Poltergeist
by A Natsume Yuujinchou lover
Summary: Teito and Frau managed to escape from Ayanami once more, but this time, Barsburg is no longer safe. Fate then leads them to a guild of Mages... And Frau actually knows more than one of them! Original pairings only!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

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CRASH!

Frau leapt through a glass window of the Barsburg Castle, Teito carried bridal style in both arms. He landed on the ground with a loud bang before sprinting towards the harbour.

"Make sure you stick to me, damned brat!" Frau yelled through gritted teeth, not even stopping once to look around for any guards.

"I'm not a brat!" Teito shouted loudly before muttering under his breath, "As if I can't stick to you, idiot... I'm being carried by you right now."

"Hmm? You said something?" Frau added with a smirk.

"Nothing, really..." Teito trailed off, looking away from Frau. The mist surrounding them seemed to be getting thicker with every step Frau took. And Frau seemed to be thinking the same, too.

After a while, Frau stopped in front of a small, wooden boat with a motor attached to it. He dropped Teito in a rush before before jumping onto the boat.

"Where are we going?" Teito asked in a panic, trying to get on the boat.

"We're getting out of here, so hurry up and get on the boat, Teito!" Frau shouted, stretching out his right hand for Teito to grab.

"Wait, Frau! What about Castor, Labrador…" Teito stopped short to take in a breath of air. "Hakuren, Mikage and Ouka? What will happen to them?"

Frau stopped abruptly. He knew Labrador and Castor would be fine, but there was no way Hakuren and Ouka could have gotten out of there, especially when the King was just killed. The Imperial Army would definitely take this opportunity to take over the Barsburg Empire. And he had no idea where Mikage was...

"… Tch!" Frau clicked his tongue angrily.

"Frau!" Teito yelled, but the sound of footsteps from the Palace guards were approaching faster than Frau predicted.

"The others will get away as well! Just believe in them, you damned brat!" Frau continued, hiding his thoughts behind a slightly serious facade.

"Wait, hey-"

Frau pulled Teito onto the boat before using his Zaiphon to propel the boat forward, with just barely enough time for them to escape the Imperial guards chasing after them. Teito turned back, and the sight of the First District- no, the whole of the Barsburg Empire and the previous Raggs Kingdom- was soon covered by a thick cloud of mist.

"Barsburg... And Raggs..." Teito muttered, staring at the direction which he thought was where the Barsburg Castle was just moments ago. 'I'll come back... I'll definitely come back. Hakuren, Mikage, Ouka!'

Frau turned and saw Teito staring intently into the distance. The former sighed before reaching out his left hand and ruffled the latter's hair.

"Don't worry too much and go to sleep, brat." Frau spoke loudly, still ruffling Teito's hair.

"Frau..." Teito muttered before falling asleep, not knowing where he would end up once he awoke...

XXX

_"Frau nii-chan, wait for me!" A young boy with long, green hair let down slightly past his shoulders whined, huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath._

_"You're just too slow, Freed!" The older boy with slight spiky blond hair known as Frau yelled over, hands at his hips._

_"But I can't run as fast as you can, and you know it!" Freed retorted, fully standing up and running towards Frau, who was almost half a head taller than him._

_"And to get caught by those Sisters I played a prank on? No way!" Frau sneered a reply, grinning from ear to ear._

_"Playing pranks are bad, nii-chan!" Freed yelled back, but stopped when Frau raised his hand and patted the former's head._

_"Yeah, but they deserve it." Frau started ruffling Freed's hair before looking upwards and into the distance. "After all, idiots who pray to Gods who don't exist are idiots."_

_"... You said 'idiot' twice, Nii-chan." Freed added with a chuckle. Frau's face flustered red before he put down his hand and walked away, Freed next to him._

_"... Damned brat." Frau muttered under his breath._

_"Did you say something?"_

_"No. Nothing."_

XXX

"We're finally back!" Lucy announced, stretching her arms upwards.

"I can't wait to get back to the guild!" Natsu yelled, punching his right fist into his open left. "I'm itching for a fight!"

"Do you think it's even complete yet?" Gray added coolly. "After all, we would have to help out with construction."

"How about a spar, right here and right now, Gray?" Natsu smirked, motioning the said person to start one.

"Gray's right, Natsu." Erza popped in without warning, scaring both the Dragon Slayer and Ice Mage. "They might not be done yet, so don't unnecessarily start a fight and destroy everything that has been built already."

"Besides that, why are you topless again, Gray?" Lucy stated monotone, not amused with Gray's stripping habits. The latter shouted in panic before putting on his shirt.

Lucy sighed. These guys have no sense of coolness at all. So exactly how and why did she get grouped together with them? Lucy looked up and noticed Natsu sniffing and turning left and right.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" Happy chirped, flying in the air using Era.

"I smell something!" Natsu shouted, not the least trying to cover what he was doing.

"Well, isn't that obvious?" Gray stated, arms crossed.

"It's different from anything I've smelt before!" Natsu shouted again with Gray face-palming behind him. 'Be more specific!' Gray yelled inwardly.

"How is it different?" Erza asked- ahem, demanded- from the Dragon Slayer, but the latter already sprinted off to a fishing boat approaching the port.

"Natsu! Wait for us!" Lucy yelled, but Erza and Gray had already sprinted off after Natsu as well.

Lucy froze on the spot, eyes wide, wondering how inhumane their reaction time were to Natsu's frequent runs.

"... Do they always do that?" Lucy asked Happy, who was still next to her.

"Aye!"

XXX

Meanwhile, Natsu jumped onto the boat, barely stepping on the two unconscious people on the boat.

"Hey! Who are you guys? And are you alrigh-" Natsu shouted, but his transport sickness got the better of him. He feel to his knees and leaned out against the boat. "Guh, I feel sick..."

"That idiot! He got too excited!" Gray grumbled under his breath. He stood by the banks of the port before yelling and pounding his hands together, "Ice make: Floor!"

The water surrounding the boat and in front of Gray froze with a bright flash of light. Erza jumped lightly onto the ice and strolled towards the boat.

"Natsu, what were you thinking?" Erza sighed before grabbing the person with spiky, blond hair's arm. To her shock, that person's arm... Was freezing cold.

Erza quickly let go of that person's arm and felt the arm of the other with brownish black hair: he was warm, but it was clear that his body temperature was dropping quickly.

"Erza! What are you doing spacing out? Hurry up before the ice melts!" Gray shouted from the banks of the port. That broke Erza out of her thoughts and she quickly regained control of the situation.

"Natsu! You take the kid! I'll handle the big guy here!" Erza yelled, carrying the person she first touched. His body was still freezing cold. Erza's eyes widened for a second when the thought of the man being a corpse, but the sound of his breathing shattered them immediately. Still, it was strange that his body was like this.

"Erza..." Natsu whimpered, still on the boat. "I don't think... I can do it..."

"Just do it, Natsu!" Erza yelled again, pulling the older person to land. It took a while, but Natsu had successfully done so without falling into the water.

"Erza! Gray! Natsu!" Lucy finally ran over. "Who are these two?"

"I'm not sure..." Gray muttered under his breath.

"They don't smell like anything from here, though!" Natsu managed to speak out, glad to finally be on land again.

"We'll discuss what to do with them with Master. Let's get them to Fairy Tail first." Erza spoke up, carrying the person to her carriage of luggage and tossing him on a vacant spot. Gray took over and did the same with the boy who looked the same age as him.

"... I do wonder who they are, though." Lucy muttered under her breath. It was wasn't before she noticed a huge building looming over her that she looked up: and got a huge surprise.

The Fairy Tail Guild... was rebuilt!

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**[A/N]: **Hi everyone! Welcome to Poltergeist! :D

I'm the author, A Natsume Yuujinchou Lover, currently slurping Korean ramen (ooh, spicy! D:), watching Rooftop Prince, and preparing for my Chinese Oral exams this coming Monday at the same time, de arimasu~!

Please enjoy this prologue and future chapters to come! XD

Oh yes, one thing i almost forgot: There's no yaoi or shounen ai in here. One, simply because I cannot write romance stories for nuts. And two-because I do know that 07-Ghost is a BL magnet like Natsume Yuujinchou- I would rather not write one. :P


	2. I: First Meeting

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

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Review Responses~!

TheLazyOtakuWithTooMuchTime: Thanks for your support! XD

FanFictionFan345: I'm still laying the foundation, but the story will be built up in the upcoming chapters. And with regards to your question: Nope, it was after that in Barsburg Church. Perhaps future flashbacks/chapters will reveal more. :)

Angelic yet Demonic: Thanks so much! I'm glad you found it interesting. Here's the update! (And your pen name's awesome! :D)

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Frau let out a groan as tossed and turned, the neat sheets on the bed getting more and more wrinkled with every movement made. Frau turned, body facing the ceiling before he slowly opened his eyes. It seemed that he was in a room, and it was a pretty bright one, too.

Suddenly, the thought of being captured by the Imperial Army made Frau's eyes widen in shock before he immediately sat up. His breath came out in short, quiet pants. Frau scanned the room nervously, only to find that it looked nothing like the infirmaries Barsburg had, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Phew... That was real freaky..." Frau muttered to himself as he pressed one hand slightly against half his face. He was still trying to recall the sequence of events that occurred before he passed out.

He somehow got a boat (courtesy of Castor)...

Had this untimely dream of that brat he met shortly after he was brought into Barsburg Church...

And somehow managed to escape from the Barsburg Empire with Teito.

Wait, where's Teito?

Frau's eyes scanned the room again before they locked onto the teenager sleeping soundly in the bed next to his.

"Tch, that brat, always making me worry over nothing..." Frau sighed once more, ruffling his fringe as he did so. "Although... I do wonder where we are..."

Without warning, the door to the infirmary slammed open, the said object almost busted out of the hinges that connected it to the doorframe. A pink-haired teen who looked about Teito's age collapsed amongst a heap of bandages a distance away from the door. Another girl who looked slightly older and was clad in half a suit of armour stepped into the room, muttering something about 'Natsu' having to behaving himself. Her eyes then chanced upon the awoken Frau.

"You... You're awake?" The girl- no, she should be considered a young lady in Frau's terms- shuttered nervously, eyes wide in shock. Frau stared blankly at her, wondering who she was and why her first words were as they had been said.

He then remembered that he was supposedly a corpse with no body heat, and face-palmed at his stupidity.

"Y-y-y-y... Yo..." Frau raised his left hand into a waving position, an awkward smile plastered on his face. "Hey, I'm just asking, but... Who are you? And where is this place?"

"Uh, well..." The young lady trailed off, still not seemingly comfortable with the current atmosphere. Only one word could explain it- awkward.

"I'm Natsu, and this is Erza!" The pink haired boy- Natsu- jumped into the fray, seemingly eager to announce who he was to Frau. "You're in Fairy Tail, a guild of super strong mages!"

"Ah, Mages, I see..." Frau muttered to himself, trying to click the information he just received in his head. As he did so, another girl with blond hair and reeeaaallllly big boobs strolled in, looking somewhat exhausted and was about to talk to Natsu.

"Hey Natsu, you just had to break another door, did yo-"

"Big boobs! I like!" Frau yelled, flashing a thumbs up with his right hand, the left one supporting the weight of his upper body. Erza and Lucy stared at Frau in upmost horror, while Natsu stared at Frau blankly.

"Kyaaaaaaa! Why did we have to pick up a pervert of all sorts of guys? That's sexual harassment!" Lucy screeched before smacking Frau's head with her fists.

"Uwah! I'm sorry, really!" Frau shouted, not resisting but still grinning away.

"... Get out." Frau and Lucy stopped abruptly, both turning to the source of the voice. Erza now had one of her swords unsheathed (if there was even a scabbard) and pointed towards Frau. "I kept you here because I thought that you might need to ret and heal up, but it seems that you are healthy enough, though."

"Wait, let's talk through this after a cup of tea, shall we...?" Frau's words trailed off, Erza's demonic aura overwriting Frau's smirk.

"Not a chance." Erza continued, swinging her sword backwards. Frau immediately backed towards the opposite end of the bed, looking pretty much shocked- but not scared- to no end. Erza swung her sword that was aimed at Frau, but the latter had seemingly disappeared.

"Calm down. I'm not an enemy of yours." Frau patted Erza's head once, the latter's eyes widened at his sudden appearance. In the spur of the moment, she kicked him. Frau was thrown against the wall of the infirmary, the wall partially breaking apart due to the impact.

"Woah! Nice one, Erza!" Lucy yelled to the Mage before turning to Natsu, the latter collapsed on the floor and looking pretty bad. It must have been the after effects of eating Etherion acting up again.

"Sheesh, teenagers these days have no respect for their elders..." Lucy and Erza turned to Frau, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor as rubbing his head. The other Fairy Tail members outside stopped their chatter and stared at the commotion between Frau and Erza in shock.

"Hey, that kid's awake." Macao spoke aloud, putting down the beer mug in his hand.

"Not only that, Macao." Wakaba added. "That kid freakin' flew through a wall made of wood, and he looks totally fine!"

"That's crazy! And I built that wall just yesterday!" Warren whined, but was ignored by most of the members.

"Heh, he's that strong?" Gray smirked, sitting on the bench with his right foot raised and on the bench as well.

"Umm, Gray? Why are you topless again?" Cana asked, slightly drunk and annoyed that her drinking was interrupted.

"Let's have a MANLY fight!" Elfman shouted excitedly, almost making Jet and Droy, who happened to be sitting right in front of him, deaf.

"Shut up, Elfman! Don't make our dear Levy deaf!" Jet and Droy yelled back simultaneously before they turned to each other and started bickering amongst themselves on who liked Levy more. The girl sighed before moving out of the way of the two arguing.

Frau stared blankly at the scene before him, having no idea what the term 'normal' meant in Fairy Tail. He watched as mugs were thrown from one side of the hall to the other.

"Hey, how long are you gonna stay on the floor?" Frau snapped out of his thoughts and sharply turned to Erza, who was standing next to him with a hand outstretched.

"Well, it was not like I was originally on the floor in the first place, young lady..." Frau held on to Erza's hand and stood up. "Speaking of which, when I asked where I was earlier on, I wanted a location. The term 'Fairy Tail' does not seem to ring a bell in my head."

"Well, then you must be from somewhere farther away from here." Erza answered, swiftly releasing her hand from Frau's hold. "This guild is in Magnolia, a country in the Kingdom of Fiore."

"Fiore? That's pretty far." Frau muttered to himself, ignoring Natsu's mutterings of 'This new guild just doesn't feel right'.

All of a sudden, the lights went out, and Cana pushed Natsu to one of the benches where the others were. Frau followed them and sat opposite Gajeel, still processing the information he had gotten so far.

"You." Frau glanced at Gajeel, who was glaring at him. He then turned away, pretending to ignore Gajeel totally. "Hey, Old man."

"I'm not an Old man, brat. Respect your elders." Frau spat out, annoyed, not even facing Gajeel. Before Gajeel could continue, the curtains opened, revealing Mirajane in a long, cheetah-print dress. She was playing an electric guitar.

Mixed reactions arouse from the crowd, and Frau himself was surprised that there was someone like this in Fairy Tail... Someone playing a ballad of all sorts of songs in a place as rowdy as Fairy Tail seemed to be. Surprisingly, most of the Fairy Tail members had settled down to listen to the song, enjoying the piece.

Just after Mirajane was done with the chorus, cheers filled the hall. Frau then noticed a sigh from Gajeel, and a small glint in the Dragon Slayer's eyes. Expecting Gajeel to start something chaotic, Frau immediately got off the bench, surprising the people on the same bench and those nearby.

"What's wrong, pervert?" Lucy asked, not suspecting anything.

Gajeel then stepped hard on Natsu's foot, causing the latter to yell in pain and retort back. Mugs flew past Frau and smacked both Dragon Slayers on the chin. Natsu lost his temper and overturned the table in anger. Cana fell off the bench, Juvia- to Frau's surprise- was not the least injured and Lucy barely got out of the way, eyes wide.

Frau kept watching as Erza continued to eat her cake in absolute bliss, even with the things going on next to her. When he saw Gray almost ready to stand up to protest, he quickly took another two steps back, just in time for Gray to accidentally knock Erza's cake out of her hands.

The duo started punching each other, unaware of the danger that loomed below them. Erza started mumbling something about 'her strawberry cake', a dark and evil aura surrounding her.

"Dammit, you guys! Shut up and listen to Nee-san's song!" Elfman burst out, punching the person closest to him. Unfortunately, Erza happened to snap at the exact same time.

"Shut the hell up!" Erza yelled, kicking Elfman and other numerous off their seats like it was nothing at all. Similarly, Natsu was all around, trashing people here and there as Makarov stood and watched the scene unfold before him.

"I guess this is no time for a ballad, huh." Mirajane put down the guitar, somehow changed into a totally different costume and strummed the guitar rock and roll style. "Let's rock the house, then!"

It took less than a minute for the guild to be noisy and trashed up again. Tables and benches were disorganised, a crowd formed in front of the singing Mirajane, and stuff- other than those flying around- were littered all over the place. Frau stood by the infirmary room, smirking and watching the Fairy Tail members seemingly trashing their guild apart.

"Hey, Zehel." Frau looked down, eyes meeting Teito's. His first thought was that the latter was awake, but he realised that his eyes were blood red... It was not Teito. It was Mikhail.

"It's best you don't reveal yourself yet," Frau spoke, looking back up. "We wouldn't want the Imperial Army chasing after you."

"I know that, but my Master can't seem to move his body, so I'm warming it up for him." Mikhail replied, crawling through the hole and leaning against the wall next to Frau.

"One more thing, don't swap Teito out unless you really have to." Mikhail glared at Frau, who returned the glare with a glance. The former sighed before swapping Teito back.

"Huh? Frau? What are we doing here? Shouldn't we be at sea?" Teito asked, surprised at the current situation.

Frau merely stared at Teito before ruffling his hair, a smirk forming on his face. "You're finally awake, brat! And I was starting to get worried about you not waking up!"

"Just tell me where we are, idiot!" Teito yelled desperately, but his voice was lost in the rowdiness of the crowd.

"Why couldn't those brats just bottle it for one day..." Makarov growled, but was unheard by the guild members until he burst out crying. "Tomorrow's the day the reporter comes to collect data on the guild~!"

Almost everyone turned to Makarov in shock. They had not heard about it at all!

"Cut it out, you lowlifes! Clean this place up!" Makarov continued, growing larger and larger as he did so.

"Master!" "Hey, Gramps! Don't go all giant on us!" Multiple shouts now filled the guild.

"Now, now, calm down, Master." Frau walked towards Makarov, hands raised in a mediative position and a slightly sly smile on his face. The Fairy Tail members and Teito stared at Frau in shock, neither groups/person saying anything.

"You don't have the right to call Master 'Master', dammit!" Elfman yelled, breaking the new-found silence.

"Huh? But isn't he the Master of this guild or something?" Frau asked, but kept his smile on his face. Somehow it reminded the others of Mirajane.

"You did call the owner of a bar 'Master' once too, you know." Teito added monotonely. "Back before we went to the Almraz Residence."

"Hey, I thought you has no memory of that, especially when you were sick and all." Frau cut in, slightly annoyed and his hands now at his hips.

"How could I possibly sleep after the creepy things you told me just before I fell asleep?" Teito retorted, but was soon interrupted by Makarov.

"Enough of that, you two." Makarov cleared his throat after he shrunk back to his original size. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I would like to know who the two of you are."

"Sorry, I guess I kinda forgot about that." Frau laughed awkwardly before taking out his bishop pass. "I'm Frau, a Bishop from Barsburg Church. This brat with me (Teito smacks Frau in protest to his nickname) is my apprentice."

The Fairy Tail members stared at the pass before looking at Frau and Teito from head to toe. The latter still looked pretty decent, but the former did not suit the image of a Bishop at all.

"He's definitely lying about his identity. He doesn't look like a Bishop at all." Max whispered to Nab, who was sitting on a bench near Frau. The latter nodded his head in agreement.

"Not to mention that he's a big perver-" Lucy added, but was interrupted by Frau's sudden movement towards Max and Nab.

"I'm a Bishop, down to every last bit of me!" Frau yelled, flashing the bishop pass directly in front of Max. "Take a close look at this bishop pass, dammit!

"I haven't seen a pass like that here in Magnolia, so there's no way I can check it, idiot!" Max yelled back, pushing Frau's arm away.

Before Makarov or Erza could stop the rising argument, a bright lightning bolt flashed onto the second level of the guild. When the light produced from the bolt finally subsided, a man with blond hair and a very distinct lightning bolt scar on his right eye appeared there. He rested his cheek against his right hand, elbow pressing against the wooden handrail.

"Heh, the new guild building is not bad." Laxus smirked, glancing around, pretending that the guild members on the first floor were non-existent.

"Laxus! What are you doing back here?" Erza shouted, glaring at the said Mage. Teito watched the other members do the same, partially surprised and shocked at the change in atmosphere. Frau, however, looked unfazed by his appearance and kept watching the guy above.

"Hmph, is it wrong to return to MY Guild?" Laxus sneered, making the Fairy Tail members more angered by this. Natsu's carefree comment of 'Fight me, Laxus!' was ignored as well.

Laxus kept his smirk on his face until he spotted Frau in the crowd, the latter staring at the former with a blank look. Laxus raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, aren't you..."

"Fight me, Laxus!" Natsu shouted once more, this time using his flames to propel himself up to where Laxus was. His right fist was covered in flames. "Fire Dragon's Claw!"

Laxus easily evaded the attack using a bright flash of lightning, preventing everyone from seeing anything until the light subsided, with Laxus nowhere to be seen.

"Tch! He escaped!" Erza growled angrily. "If he ever comes into the guild again, I'll beat his shitty pride to no end!"

"Frau, do you know that guy?" Teito asked, looking out for Frau's reaction to his question. It was possible that Frau may have known, or at least, seen him before.

"Nope, I don't." Frau replied coolly before turning to Makarov, saying, "Well, now that that distraction's gone, how about you all introduce yourselves?"

Makarov stood there, wondering how Frau could respond to Laxus' sudden entrance and exit in that way. He snapped out of his stupor soon enough, and the Fairy Tail members started introducing themselves one after another after Makarov did so.

It took quite a while to finish just the introductions, and Makarov wanted to call it a day. He started urging the Fairy Tail members to leave the guild and head back to their respective homes.

"I'm just asking, Master, but is there a church in Magnolia?" Frau asked after the introductions were done.

"A Church? Unfortunately, no." Makarov answered, shaking his head. "There's a Cathedral- Kardia Cathedral- nearby, though."

"Alright! We have a place to stay for tonight, brat. Let's get going." Frau dragged Teito by the collar (ignoring numerous complaints along the way) and pulled him out of the doors of Fairy Tail. Erza then walked up to Makarov.

"What do you think of them, Master?" Erza asked, an eyebrow raised at the duo making their way out of the guild.

"They seem like good people, but they aren't exactly normal either. Just be on the lookout in case anything happens." Makarov answered seriously before waving Erza off in a child-like manner, as if the conversation they just had never existed.

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**[A/N]: **The last of my Chinese papers- the listening comprehension one- is finally over! Maybe I'll have much more time and inspiration to write any future chapters… After I'm done with my Portfolio for my coursework, of course. I'm currently reading Inuyasha due to the awesomeness of Kappei Yamaguchi, though. :) *random sneeze due to runny nose*

I hope this chapter was enjoyable, and take care! :D

P.s I had the image of Aomine (Kuroko no Basuke) in my head when I wrote the part on Frau talking about Lucy's chest. Ironically, they have the same seiyuu.


	3. II: the Fighting Festival

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

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Review Responses~!

Angelic yet Demonic: Great to hear from you again! Thanks for reviewing! I do have a sparring match set up for Teito versus XXX (not revealing yet), but that would occur later in the series. Do look forward to that!

TheLazyOtakuWithTooMuchTime: … I think I let you down. *bows*

Silvermoon of Forestclan: Uwah! Thanks for all your support! OvO

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The merchants pushed carts and carried baskets-worth of food supplies to their respective stalls. Kids from the village ran around, some dressed like certain Fairy Tail members and pretending to be like them too. Their mothers chased after them, some trying to get their children to change into more appropriate clothes and others to drag them back home. Farmers brought their produce into the markets, while ships docked at the already busy ports of Magnolia. Old men sat down at bars, drinking all they could with the festival underway. Many others were helping to put up the decorations for the festival.

"Wow, a festival!" Teito smiled, awed at the preparations for the upcoming Magnolia Harvest Festival.

"I heard that it will be held tonight. Fantasia, I mean." Frau smirked at Teito's reaction. "Never been to one?"

"Of course! I had been in the military since the fall of the Raggs Kingdom, and even before that, I was never allowed to leave the palace!" Teito pouted, pretending to be annoyed. Frau knew all that, but he was just teasing him on purpose.

Suddenly, the crowd seemed more restless than usual, and the villagers were letting a group of people through. Frau, being the taller one, spotted a familiar green-head with lightning bolts sticking out from both sides. That same green-head was following Laxus, and Frau evaded eye contact from the latter by turning away.

"What's happening, Fra-" Teito asked, but had his words muffled up by the said person.

"Don't say a word, Teito Klein." Frau answered, pulling Teito away from the group and blending in with the crowd. Teito could see the Laxus glance behind as if he had spotted them, but the latter looked forward a moment later.

"Like... I can say a word with you muffling me, idiot!" Teito yelled as he finally broke free of Frau's clutches, stretching his arms outwards . "Besides that, are you sure that you don't know that Laxus guy?"

"... I do know him. But I don't think it's a good place and time for us to meet, anyways." came Frau's reply. Teito stared at him before the former replaced his serious look with a smirk. "You can go see the Miss Fairy Tail Contest if you want to, ya know? Growing brats need stuff like that once in a while."

"For the last time, I'm not a brat!" Teito yelled before running ahead to the Fairy Tail guild, slightly enjoying his new-found freedom from Ayanami's clutches. Frau on the other hand, turned towards the nearest edge of Magnolia's boarders.

**XXX**

"People from Magnolia Town, people from nearby towns and those who especially came from the underworld, don't forget to your graves when it's over! Here's what you've have been waiting for!" Max announced, microphone in one hand. "The Fairy Tail beauties will perform on this stage! Let the contest begin!"

Teito burst in at full speed, but was unseen by most of the Fairy Tail members and the audience.

"Teito! What are you doing here?" Gray yelled from his seat next to Natsu's, the latter still chewing on a meat patty with a satisfied look on his face.

"I saw Laxus on the streets earlier on and I thought he may have come here, so..." Teito blabbered out quickly, unfortunately to fast for Gray and Natsu to hear properly. Gray gave Teito a confused look before the latter realised that his word did not get through. He tried to repeat his message again, but the contest already started.

One by one, the contestants of Miss Fairy Tail contest stepped out from the curtains to appeal to the cheering crowd in front of the stage. Max kept up with his noisy announcing while the crowd's excited cheering never died out- with the exception of Mirajane's performance.

It soon got to Lucy's turn, but the sudden appearance of Evergreen shocked most of the members. The latter then petrified Lucy in front of the audience before showing off the petrification of the other contestants. Laxus and the other members of Raijinshuu appeared with a bright bolt of lightning soon after.

_I knew it..._ Teito face-palmed inwardly as he overheard the Fairy Tail members' reaction to Laxus' entrance. _So that's Laxus' bodyguards, the Raijinshuu, huh... Freed, Bixlow and Evergreen._

Teito was then distracted by a shout from Makarov, and he looked up to see Lucy almost struck by a bolt of lightning. Teito immediately shot out a little bit of his Zaiphon to knock the lightning bolt away, although the bolt was still very close to hitting Lucy. Not many people noticed this, but Laxus felt the change in the lightning bolt's direction and stared at Teito for a split-second, one eyebrow raised.

"That wasn't too bad, brat." Laxus sneered, shrugging Teito's annoyed comment of 'I'm not a brat, for goodness sake!' off with a snort. He wrapped a shoulder around Lucy, continuing, "I'll be taking these girls as hostages and destroy them one by one if you break the rules."

"There are things that cannot be taken as a joke, Laxus!" Makarov spoke angrily. Teito himself was starting to get annoyed as well- how did Frau know such a prideful person? And they are so similar, too.

"It's just a game to find out who the strongest here in Fairy Tail is." Freed and Bixlow stated one after another. Teito analysed the two, trying to figure out exactly how high their stats were. They did seem pretty strong.

"Fairy Tail fight starts now!" Laxus announced before a flying table broke the tension of the guild. Natsu stood up, fully energised for once.

"Is that it? This is way too easy to understand! I'm pumped!" Natsu yelled, fist still up in the air.

Teito and the other fairy Tail members stared at Natsu in awe, wondering how he could say such a thing. The other members started commenting on how Natsu was always easily defeated by Laxus, and that he would never stand a chance. True to their word, Natsu was out like a light in less than a minute.

_That idiot..._ Teito face-palmed before analysing the Raijinshuu again. It did seem strange that Frau was avoiding them, but it seemed as if he was not avoiding Laxus. Who could Frau not to meet up with?

When Teito finally snapped out of his thoughts, the Raijinshuu had just departed and almost everyone was running out of the guild building. It was also surprising that Makarov was about five times bigger- and more masculine- then he usually was before the latter shrunk back to his original size. And he was seriously angry.

"Umm... Master..." Teito started running after the Master of the guild, only to see the latter run face-first into some sort of barrier. Gray, who was in front of him, was surprised as well.

The two started making a fuss about some invisible wall before a couple of words- what Makarov called Freed's 'enchantments'- appeared in the air. Makarov continued his explanation by stating how the enchantments worked: It was a form of magic that is placed upon a designated area to trap those who stay within its boundaries and that it was inscribed in the characters all around the guild building.

"So those who stray within these enchantments are placed under certain rules and these rules cannot be broken, right?" Teito finished Makarov's explanation swiftly. The latter stared at the former in shock for a moment, but nodded and continued his explanation. Soon, a bunch of Fiore characters appeared in front of them.

"Rule: Those above the age of 80, and stone statues, may not pass." Gray read aloud before yelling, "What the hell is with this magic?! It's like some kid saying 'Because I said so' and it actually working!"

While the two kept up their heated argument, Teito went up to the barrier and put his hand on it. True enough, he could not go through the barrier *ahem* enchantment. _It must be the Eye of Mikhail that is preventing me from going out as well... And this is..._

"Manipulative Zaiphon?" Teito spoke aloud, with Gray and Makarov staring blankly at him.

"Well, I guess we would have to give it our best shot!" Gray yelled before sprinting off. He then spoke with a serious tone, "I ain't going to show any mercy just because he's your grandson. I'm taking out Laxus!"

Makarov pounded his fists against the enchantment angrily before he noticed Reedus cowering behind the door to the guild. Teito watched as Makarov asked Reedus to bring Polyushka to Magnolia for the petrification cure, and just then, Natsu also happened to wake up.

"Huh? Where's Laxus? Hell, where's everyone?!" Natsu blurted out in a rush, not knowing anything that happened while he was unconscious.

"Laxus made everyone go outside to fight him and his Raijinshuu to see who the strongest in Fairy Tail is." Teito answered monotonely, but was interrupted by Makarov's shouting.

"The festival has begun! Laxus is somewhere in Magnolia, so now go defeat him!" Makarov shouted in an attempt to get Natsu fired up. True enough, the latter yelled excitedly before dashing towards the guild entrance, only to crash into Freed's enchantment as well.

Teito, Makarov, Reedus and Happy stared at Natsu in utter shock even as the Dragon Slayer somehow spluttered out a 'What's this?', obviously shocked as well.

"What's going on, Natsu! Are you 80? Or a statue?!" Makarov and Happy yelled simultaneously.

"Dammit! Why can't I get out of here?!" Natsu pounded the barrier repeatedly with his fists.

"A-a-anyways, I had better get out of here to find Polyushka before Laxus finds out," Reedus stammered before running off, leaving the four (including Happy) in the guild.

"Speaking of which, Teito, why aren't you going out?" Happy asked, using his Era magic to fly near the said person.

"Ah, about that, well..." Teito scratched his head. _I would like to avoid telling them about the Eye of Mikhail, but it looks like I can't get out of this with a usual excuse... What should I say?_ "I don't think I have the right to be involved in this, do I?"

Makarov raised an eyebrow before another bunch of words suddenly appeared on the barrier. From how Makarov reacted to it, it must have been a status report on the situation of the battle. The results on the report, however, was totally unexpected.

"Why would they be fighting against each other?!" Makarov gasped, eyes wide.

**XXX**

"How long will you last, seeing Fairy eat Fairy, old man?" Laxus muttered in the silence of the Cathedral.

**XXX**

Frau stood by a path that led into the forest, staring hard at the ground. Some of the people who passed by were looking at him with curious eyes, wondering exactly what Frau was staring at. Others treated it as if he was crazy and ignored him. Unknown to them, Frau was staring at the Zaiphon written on the ground.

"I see... So that's what's going on, Laxus... Freed..." Frau growled under his breath before making a dash towards the guild.

**XXX**

Teito sat by the barrier, thinking about how he could possibly overwrite the barrier. It may be a type of Manipulative Zaiphon, but he had never seen a form like this before. Well, if Frau were here, he could possibly do something... Even as Natsu keeps pushing the barrier, hoping that it will break and he could be free to fight. The number of Fairy Tail members trailed down to 42 and the Raijinshuu started their assaults against the other guild members.

Makarov himself was at a loss of what to do when he suddenly recalled Teito saying something about Freed's enchantments. "Speaking of which, Teito, you mentioned something about Manipulative Zaiphon earlier on. Exactly what is it?"

"Well, Zaiphon is a type of magic that allows the user to change his feelings and emotions into words. There are three forms of Zaiphon- Attacking, Healing and Manipulative- each having different properties. Manipulative Zaiphon allows the user to control certain things or set certain rules that can be controlled by its user." Teito explained after turning around to face Makarov. "Both Frau and I have Attacking Zaiphon, which is a more direct attacking style. Healing Zaiphon, like its name suggests, is for healing of injuries." 'And exorcism of Kor', Teito thought grimly.

"This Zaiphon. Is it a kind of rune magic or enchantment?" Makarov asked again. Before Teito could answer, Frau walked up from behind.

"Yes," Frau answered, a smile on his face. He read the words on the screen before turning to Teito, "Why are you stuck in there, brat?"

"Frau!"

"Dammit, where have you been all this time, Frau?!" Natsu yelled, running up towards the barrier and trying to punch Frau. The latter smirked when the former's punch did not get through.

"What on earth are you doing in there, Natsu? You'd usually be the first one out there," Frau taunted, still smirking. He started taking a few steps into the enchantment-affected area. "Besides that, I saw lots of the Fairy Tail members fighting amongst each other outside. May I know what exactly is going on?"

"Frau, stop!" Teito cut in, but it was too late. Frau was officially stuck in the enchantment as well.

"... Uh, what is this doing here?" Frau asked, tapping the barrier behind him in slight disbelief.

Makarov and Happy almost fell comically at the scene while Natsu remained uninterested. It made no sense as to why both Frau and Teito were stuck as well, but Frau could have, at least, stayed outside and not get involved in this whole mess. Just then, he words 'Elfman vs Evergreen, Victor: Evergreen' and 'Reedus vs Freed, Victor: Freed' popped up behind Frau, surprising everyone there.

"They've taken out Reedus!" Happy yelped nervously.

"You're pretty tough, aren't ya, Freed?" Natsu growled in slight protest. Makarov could only stare at the words on the barrier. Frau chuckled softly at Freed's win.

A psychic projection of Laxus suddenly appeared a distance away from the five of them, mocking Makarov of the defeat of the other members of the guild. Happy protested that Gray would not lose, only for the words 'Gray is no longer to fight' to appear on the barrier. Laxus laughed even harder even as Happy tried to prove him wrong.

"Now then, who's going to defeat the Raijinshuu, then?" Laxus sneered, leaving Makarov almost trembling in fear of really losing his guild members.

"You've still got me!" Natsu retorted immediately.

"And what exactly are you going to do shut up in here, huh, Natsu?" Laxus continued, smirk still on his face.

"You...!" Teito wanted to fight back, but Makarov interrupted him.

"Alright. That's enough." Makarov spoke with a defeated sigh, ignoring Natsu's protests. "I surrender, so please stop this, Laxus.

"Well... That's just no good. The great master of Fairy Tail, accepting his own pathetic defeat so easily? If you really want to resign, do it after you hand over the title of Master to me!" Laxus taunted, ignoring Natsu's and Makarov's responses. "There's another hour and a half until the women crumble to dust; you'd better think over this one good!"

"Laxus, isn't this enough?" Frau commented casually, squatting and seemingly using his finger to draw something on the barrier. "You had better stop before it's too late."

"Frau..." Laxus muttered- surprisingly not angry or annoyed- under his breath. He regained his posture before continuing, "Stay out of Fairy Tail's matters and get back to Barsburg Church. You don't belong here."

"Wait right there, you!" Natsu sprinted towards the psychic projection of Laxus, trying to punch him but missing the latter completely.

"Okay! Looks like I'd better head off too!" Frau stretched himself, pretending that the incident with Laxus earlier never happened.

"But, the enchantment..." Teito murmured, staring at the barrier created by said enchantment.

"It's fine! I changed some of the rules of the enchantment so that I can pass through!" Frau grinned, walking through the enchantment without any obstructions. Makarov, Teito, Natsu and Happy's eyes widened.

"Woah! How on earth did you do that?!" Natsu yelled excitedly.

"By breaking down the enchantment and adding my Zaiphon in such a way that it does not destroy the structure of the spell." 'Not to mention that I've seen this sort of magic before.' Frau kept his grin on his face, even bursting into laughter when Natsu had another failed attempt of getting through the barrier. "You damned brats had better stay in there just in case Laxus does anything he would ever regret, okay?"

"Frau..." Makarov stared at the Bishop who was still grinning like an idiot. It was clear that something was on his mind and that he was hiding it, though. It was there and then that Makarov decided to ask him the question that had been on his mind all along. "What is your relationship with Laxus?"

"Hmm?" Frau looked mildly surprised at the question, and that was more than enough to get Natsu, Happy and Teito's attention. The former continued, "Well, I'd say... He's an old friend? Anyways, I gotta go! See ya!" And he sprinted off.

Makarov sighed, trying to fix the pieces of the puzzle together. Laxus starting this 'festival'. Frau hiding his relationship with Laxus. Teito not leaving the enchantment. Natsu being unable to leave the same thing. And whether he could save the brats he had been looking after for a long time.

Meanwhile, Teito kept staring at the words on the enchantment. It seemed strange that Frau wrote it in the language they used in Barsburg, but since the latter was one of the Seven Ghosts, it kind of made sense. Teito read the words which stated: Only Frau is able to pass through.

"Great. Just great." Teito grumbled under his breath. He could say that it was expected of Frau not to reveal his identity as one of the Seven Ghosts, but why specifically his own name?!

Happy's reaction to a weird munching sound coming from behind the counter made everyone direct their attention to Gajeel, who was munching on some metal utensils. Teito watched the whole scene in utter disbelief, up to the point where Gajeel was also unable to pass through the enchantment.

"Not you too!" Makarov, Natsu and Happy chimed simultaneously. Gajeel was left looking in mild shock and disbelief.

"Just what is going on here?" Both Teito and Happy wondered aloud.

**XXX**

Outside, the Raijinshuu continued their ruthless assaults on the other Fairy Tail members.

The Fairy Tail members fall one by one, prey to the trap set up by Laxus.

With slightly over an hour left to go...

The battle of Fairy Tail...

Only two remain.

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**[A/N]: **Firstly, I apologise for the late update, and if this chapter seemed really dry to any one of my dear readers. Since my last update, I've been mediating a fight, finishing up my animation and getting scolded two times for nothing. *sighs* I'll allow flames, but the nicer ones will go to Natsu. Zancrow can get a stomach ache eating up the horrible ones for all I care. :P

Secondly, many thanks to everyone who has read, favourite-d, subscribed and reviewed this story! I know I forgot to thank you all at the last chapter. I'm really sorry. Please help yourselves to some of the imaginary pineapple cake my parents bought from Hong Kong.

Lastly, my Prelims just started today, so I rushed to get this done. Do tell me if there are any mistakes (for example, disjointed storylines, spelling/grammer/verb mistakes, misspelt character names) and I'll change them quick.

Note: This story is going on an unofficial hiatus until my Prelims are over, which will be close to the end of August. Once again, thanks for all the support. I'll try to update as soon as I can. I promise!

P.s don't mind the long beginning. It's a habit out of writing essays in school. LOL D:


	4. Omake I: Platonic Cafe

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

* * *

"Gray!"

"What?" Gray immediately replied, turning to the person who called him. It was Natsu, shouting the former's name while standing on one of the tables (as per the usual).

"Have a fight with me!" Natsu continued, ignoring Gray's groan of slight annoyance.

"How many times have you asked that, Natsu?!" Gray sighed heavily, ruffling his fringe. "Do you even remember when was the last time you challenged me to a fight?"

"Of course I do! Last week!" Natsu yelled again using his know-it-all tone.

"It was just yesterday, idiot!" Gray yelled back in protest.

Meanwhile, Teito watched the two in awe. It seemed so strange that they seemed to get along so well and yet fight like rivals all the time. It reminded him of Hakuren. And speaking of Hakuren... How was he now?

"Fine! Let's settle this with a fight!" Gray yelled, pulling his shirt off.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned to the source of the voice. A short girl wearing spectacles, with low twin tails and wearing a white shirt and beige skirt stood near Natsu and Gray, hands on her hips.

"Who are you? And why are you here?" the duo asked simultaneously, staring blankly at the unknown girl.

"I'm the author of this story, A Natsume Yuujinchou lover, or ANYL for short. So listen a bit, will ya?" ANYL said, shifting from her left arm down from bending position.

"ANYL? 'A-kneel'? **[1]**" Happy, who happened to fly in at that moment, commented on ANYL's pen name.

"It's not 'A-kneel', it's A-N-Y-L! Get it right, you stupid cat! Or I won't write you in any of my next Fairy Tail stories ever again!"

"Ehh~? Why?" Happy whined, but was interrupted by Teito.

"Why are you here?" Teito asked calmly, not the least bothered with ANYL's sudden appearance.

"Well, I'm busy studying for my Prelims (lookie at this stack of notes that mysteriously appeared on the floor here?) and my dear readers do want an update, so here's an Omake that's officially just-for-laffs. Misspelt words included." ANYL explained, waving her index finger in a know-it-all way.

"Uh, yeah. Go on." Gray waved a hand in complete defeat.

"Anyways, I'm here with my laptop in my hand (not to do my animation; that was due two weeks back) to host a little competition: let's get started, hey?" ANYL continued, typing something into the device that appeared in her left hand.

"I would like to find out what that competition is about," Frau smirked, suddenly popping out from behind Teito. Both Natsu and Gray yelped up in shock, while Teito and ANYL had no change in reaction.

"Sheesh, stop appearing like that!" Gray spluttered, inching away from Frau.

"C'mon, we're waiting!" Frau shrugged off Gray's comment with a sneer directed towards ANYL. The latter seemed to have pretty calculative eyes as well.

"It's a competition... To see whose Seiyuu I watched more shows for!" ANYL announced gleefully, not bothered the least by the confused looks from the four near her.

"Seiyuu?" The four asked in unison.

"That's right. Seiyuus are the people who provide each and every one of you with a voice that the fans can hear! Learn that!"

"It would be wise to stop breaking the fourth wall, though." Lucy grumbled, joining the fray.

"I do want to know why it's a 'fourth wall' when a wall has no need to be numbered." Erza muttered, standing next to Lucy.

"On with the competition, this Omake's contestants are... Gray and Natsu!"

"Woah!" Gray fell off the bench immediately after the announcement was made.

"Is it because they were fighting (or about to fight) earlier on?" Teito asked, getting more interested in the competition.

"Not only that, but my elder sister **[2]** once choose Nakamura-san for our list of 'Most watched anime Seiyuu list' and I chose Kaki nii-san! **[3]**" ANYL chirped, jumping excitedly on the spot. "Anyways, let's begin!"

ANYL clicked the laptop and two pages appeared on the screen, surprising the Mages there.

"First, for Natsu... No, Kaki nii-san: There's Hyouma, Amaimon, Sarutobi Sasuke, Natsu, Katou-kun, Shima, Masafumi... Well, that's all."

"That's it? Seriously, that's it?!" Lucy squeaked, slightly surprised at the number of characters. "I thought your Seiyuu would be more famous since he voiced you."

"It's only seven... Well, blame me if you must." ANYL sighed, sweat-dropping at the aura of despair that obviously seeped from Natsu.

"How about Gray?" Erza asked, peeping over to look at the screen with great curiousity.

"Let's see... For Nakamura-san: There's Tesla, Okazaki Tomoya, Akira (I don't feel like mentioning this... It makes me feel like a pervert... *sobs*), Kadota, Gray, Greed, Crackers- whoops, I meant Graham Aker..." ANYL trailed off while the others stared intently at the former. Was it going to be a tie? "Grizzly-san, Hatori-san, Ikuto, Kazuki Shiranui... And Ringo-sensei."

"What the hell! That's twelve!" Natsu yelled, depressed by the results. He then pouted, "This competition ain't fair."

"Cheer up, Natsu. How about I show you how Ringo-sensei is like? You'll definitely be entertained by that..." ANYL smirked, turning the laptop to the six people. A male (?) teacher with long pink hair appeared on the screen, shocking almost everyone there.

"This... This is...!" Erza barely managed to speak, face blushing red.

"Is this voice... Really from the person who voiced Gray? They sound so different!" Lucy stammered nervously, eyes fixated on the screen.

"Heh, I totally didn't expect you to be able to sound like that," Frau started poking a blushing Gray before pointing at another character with slightly long orange hair. "Besides that, doesn't this guy sound like me?"

"Yup, but let's leave that for another time. I'm going back to study, so see ya all later!" ANYL vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving the Fairy Tail members and Teito frozen on the spot.

"So, the winner of this Omake's competition is Gray Fullbuster!" Frau announced to the readers, smirk still on his face.

-END-

* * *

**[A/N]: **This Omake is dedicated to all my dear readers for the late updating for chapter 3. Do bear with me. There's another week of Prelims, and maybe even longer if I plan to retake my Chinese Exams. And by the way, I scored a C5 (55 to 59 marks). So I'm considering whether I should retake the exam.

**[1]**: A dear writer going by the pen name of 'Yoshikuni Itoe'-san told me this. :P

**[2]**: Dreams of the Future. :)

**[3]**: Gray's Seiyuu is Yuuichi Nakamura, while Natsu's is Kakihara Tetsuya.

Note: The occurrence of characters with similar Seiyuus will appear throughout the series. I do find myself pretty amused with some of them, although some of you may already know them.


	5. III: The Raijinshuu falls

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

Warning: Quite a few foul mouths here. Not used to writing them in. *dies*

* * *

Review Responses:

Honie: Hai! Hai! Thanks for the reminder… Wait, spelling? No, those were intentional. The actual chapters are accidental :P

TheLazyOtakuWithTooMuchTime: I told you before that it was following the anime, but I missed out the latest filler arc, so it may follow the manga instead. Daphne Arc is a skip. =_=

* * *

"Only two people are left?!" Makarov exclaimed as Gajeel and Natsu continued their bickering. Dawning upon realisation, he turned to the two of them- the only two who could possibly battle right now. "Don't tell me it's just these two left!"

"We weren't even included in the numbers!" Happy cried loudly.

'Me neither," Teito added inwardly, staring at Makarov's reaction to the fighting festival.

Suddenly, Natsu turned away from Gajeel and headed towards the petrified girls, saying something about reviving Erza and how he had actually wanted to go against her in an one-on-one. The other three turned to Natsu in shock, wondering how he could possibly do such a thing.

"If I burn it, it'll come off, right? The stone or whatever." Natsu casually commented with a look of naiveness after he lay Erza down on the floor. "Well, I won't know until I try!"

"Oh yes, we do! So stop! Are you trying to kill her?!" Makarov yelled, immediately running towards Natsu.

"Natsu! Get that fire off her right now!" Gajeel added, following closely behind Makarov.

"You know, you're being pretty damned pervy there..." Teito quietly commented, sweat-dropping at their actions. He then face-palmed at their reactions to the crack on the petrified Erza before the latter broke free off the spell.

And of course, Erza being Erza, decided to punch both Natsu and Gajeel (who were the closest to her at that point in time) straight after that, causing Teito to be smacked into by the flying Natsu as well.

"Erza's back!" Happy cheered loudly, as if the previous scene had never happened.

"But... How did you break free of the spell?" Makarov stammered in shock.

"I'm not that sure myself, but it may something to do with my right eye..." Erza unknowingly brought up her right hand to her right eye as she said those words.

"Erza, do you know what's going on?" Happy asked seriously for once.

"Yeah... I could hear everything." Erza replied before remembering something and turned to Teito. "Speaking of which, Teito, why aren't you out there?"

"Huh? Well, you see..." 'I can't lie to Erza, can I? She'd kill me on the spot!' "I can't get out of here, like the other two over there." was Teito's reply as he gestured over to the two currently-knocked-out dragon slayers.

"Didn't you say that you felt you had no right to interfere with this?" Makarov asked, raising an eyebrow again.

"That's one reason, and as much as I want to kick Laxus' ass, I'd rather leave it to you guys." Teito explained before settling down near the enchantment-made barrier again. "It's a Fairy Tail matter, isn't it? It's something that's better settled by someone in Fairy Tail as compared to an outsider.

For once, Teito had to be glad that he learnt Frau's way of smoothly lying through his teeth.

"Very true. And now that I'm back in action, the remaining combatants have changed as well." Erza turned to the enchantment, looking at the details on it. Just then, the number of combatants rose from three to four.

"Who?!" Natsu barked, turning to the petrified girls. "Everyone's still frozen solid (Teito & Gajeel: they aren't exactly frozen, you know), so who?!"

"It looks like that man decided to take part in this battle." Erza smirked, recalling the Fairy Tail member's name. "Mystogun."

XXX

"Erza's revived and Mystogun's here, huh. Including me, that makes Fairy Tail's top three fighters." Laxus muttered to himself with a smirk. "Yeah, this is what a festival should be like!"

Meanwhile, Frau had entered the Cathedral from the back and was watching Laxus' moves carefully and intently, making sure that he was not caught at the same time.

"Laxus." Frau muttering was almost inaudible. A loud, clear voice echoed in his head.

'Someday I'm going to be worthy of my own name, in my own right!'

Frau gritted his teeth angrily, a frown forming on his face.

'Laxus... Don't go overboard with this.'

XXX

Meanwhile, the battle between Evergreen escalated a level higher.

"Fairy machine gun: Leprechaun!" Evergreen announced, releasing a torment of needles at Erza's direction. The latter skilfully dodged and cut the needles directed to her.

Evergreen soon decided to double the number of needles, but Erza did not give up and cut them down more precisely than before. It did not take long before she found an opening and kicked her swords towards the former, trapping her entirely.

"You may be intolerable, but you are still a member of Fairy Tail, and I will honour that. And, if you want to want to call yourself Titania, feel free. I don't even know who gave me that name in the first place." Erza stated clearly and seriously. Evergreen, on the other hand, was breaking out in cold sweat. Thoughts rushed through her head as she tried to come up with an excuse that would prevent her defeat.

"My stone eyes have one more power, you know. Remote control." Evergreen lied through her teeth, hoping that Erza believed her lie. Instead, the latter re-quipped her Heaven's Wheel armour and about a hundred swords.

"I see. If winning or losing is more important than your life, then so be it. In taking your life, I will avenge the souls of those crumbled mages." Erza replied, voice deep and threatening. Evergreen shut her eyes and yelled in fright before Erza walked up gave her a light punch in the face. "... And that's how you do a real bluff."

Evergreen immediately realised that she had been tricked, but she did not want to provoke Erza any further. "… I surrender."

XXX

Back at Fairy Tail, Makarov waited impatiently for any bit of Erza's news to arrive. Just moments ago, she and Evergreen had begun their battle. Although he knew Erza was strong, he could not take any chances. He shook his head and convinced himself to trust Erza.

Just then, Lucy and the others broke free of Evergreen's spell, surprising everyone there. Even the girls themselves had no idea what was going on.

'The hostages have been freed. What will you do now, Laxus?' Makarov thought with a smirk.

XXX

"Damn it! Why the hell did Ever get herself taken out by the likes of Erza?! When did she get so weak?!" Laxus thundered, punching the pillar nearest to him.

"Erza was simply too strong for her. You should have sent myself or Bixlow." Freed stated as stepped into the Cathedral. Frau's eyes widened at the sight of the Mage before they softened almost completely.

'Freed... You're alright... I'm glad...' Frau heaved a sigh of relief. He was quickly snapped out of them when he heard a lightning bolt and quite a lot of concrete breaking. Turning back to the two, he saw a long trail left by Laxus' lightning, only a few centimetres away from Freed.

"It is not over. If you want to chicken out now, then get lost. I don't need weaklings in my Fairy Tail." Laxus stated coldly, face deprived of all emotion. Laxus then walked out of the Cathedral with a sigh. Well, here goes nothing.

Laxus took out a bunch of thunder-filled lacrima from under his coat and threw them upwards. The lacrima then split and formed a ring around the skies in Magnolia. Going back inside, Laxus requested for Freed to send his voice through the latter's enchantments. Then he began to speak.

"Can ya hear me old man? And everyone from the guild too. It seems that we have lost one of our rules, so I'm going to instate a new one." Laxus announced, ignoring the comments he received from those still in the battle. "To keep this battle of Fairy Tail moving, I've activated the Thunder Palace."

'The Thunder Palace?' Frau thought worriedly. 'Was that what he went out to do earlier on?!'

"One hour and ten minutes remain. Do you think you can beat us? Or will you play nice and retire, Master?" Laxus cut off the announcement with a trail of laughter.

"You would go this far...?" Freed asked unsurely.

"'This far'? I decide my own limits." Laxus growled before yelling, "This is a battle! It is not over until one side or the other is obliterated completely!"

XXX

"What on earth are you thinking, Laxus?! Are you trying to drag innocent civilians into this?!" Makarov shouted angrily after Laxus cut communications off. Just then, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and collapsed onto his knees.

There was a rush of movements from all the members of Fairy Tail and those who weren't, but everyone (except Mirajane, who went to get his medicine) surrounded the old man worriedly.

"We need to get him to the infirmary quickly!" Teito yelled, carrying Makarov towards the said room while Natsu desperately tried to demand what the 'Lightning Palace' was, but never got his answer.

"It's terrible, everyone! Look outside!" Mirajane yelled as she hurried down the steps, pointing outside. Everyone ran outside and saw the circle of thunder lacrima floating around town. Cana could already guess the extent of the damage this 'Lightning Palace' could do.

Immediately taking action, Bisca ex-quiped her sniper rifle and shot down one of the thunder lacrima. However, things were not as easy as they seemed to be- these lacrima were connected with living link magic and Bisca was knocked out straight after.

"It'll be better of you girls try to evacuate the civilians first. Natsu, Gajeel and I will take care of Master here." Teito suggested before he and Gajeel carried Bisca to the infirmary. Cana and the others nodded and headed out of the guild quickly.

"What the hell is that asshole thinking?! You're going way too far!" Natsu shouted angrily, jumping onto the roof but only to smack into the barrier. "If you really want to be master that much, then fight the old man yourself!" He then continued pushing himself against the barrier in a futile attempt to get out.

"Natsu! Calm down!" Levy yelled to the dragon slayer below.

"Like hell I can do that!" Natsu yelled back at once.

"Levy's right, you know. Pushing against the barrier ain't going to work, so stop wasting your energy." Teito stated monotonely as he returned.

"What do you suggest we do, then? We don't have enough time to just stay here and do nothing." Gajeel added, ignoring Natsu completely.

"It's an enchantment, right? That's a form of written magic... I might be able to do something about it." Levi interrupted before a full-fledged argument began. The dragon slayers stared blankly at her.

"Seriously, Levi?!" They chorused together.

"I know Zaiphon, which is a written form of magic as well. I'll help out too. Let's hurry!" Teito dashed off after Levi, leaving the two dragon slayers hot in their trail.

XXX

'The Thunder Palace... You would actually go that far, Laxus...?' Freed thought worriedly. The said person, however, did not seem to be worried about its consequences.

"What are you doing, Freed? Bixlow is still out there hunting fairies, you know." Laxus commanded, back turned against the said person. "So you get out there and take out that Cana and that phantom girl. I don't need them in my Fairy Tail. Feel free to kill them."

"Kill them?!" Freed protested. "We may be fighting them, but they are still members of-"

"Did you not hear my orders?!" Laxus bellowed, glaring at Freed. That latter swallowed hard before replying seriously that he would do as Laxus said and left.

"Looks like I might have to get out of here..." Frau muttered seriously before leaving as well. Laxus, on the other hand, stood at the same spot as a familiar scene played in his head.

_"Hey, Frau! What on earth are you doing up there?!" Laxus yelled, looking up at the blonde who was sitting on one of the branches._

_"Shhhh! Go away, Laxus; if that glasses-guy catches me ditching Bishop classes I'm going to get more than I already do!" Frau whispered hastily, shifting himself into a more comfortable position._

_"That's what you said the last time!" Laxus yelled again, both he and Frau getting looks from the sisters washing their laundry nearby. "You should be studying! I'm telling you, Freed's doing it a lot better than you do!"_

_"Hell, that brat's smart, plus he's more highly educated than I am! Didn't I tell you that before?" Frau answered back before asking Laxus, "Besides that, don't you have a dream?"_

_"A dream?"_

_"Yeah! For example, I wanted to be a great Sky Pira- WOAH!" One of Castor's dolls suddenly swooped in front of Frau, shocking the latter and making him fall off the tree._

_"Many thanks for your help, Laxus-san." Castor walked up to the two, smile plastered on his face._

_"Dammit! The doll-freak's here already!" Frau muttered angrily, rubbing his sore head as he lay on the ground. He was then stepped on by the said person._

_"Now then, let's get back and study hard for next year's test, hmm?" Castor's kept his sadistic smile before the aura around him turned dark. "After all, we failed this year because of you."_

_"It's your fault that one of your dolls sabotaged me at the last minute! And besides that, I never wanted to be your partner in the first place!" Frau protested, only to be interrupted by Laxus' comment._

_"Sheesh, you two don't even act like how old you're supposed to be." Laxus sighed, trying to maintain his typical straight face. "And regarding your question, Frau. I do have one. It's just that right now... I don't know what to do to achieve it."_

'My dream... To achieve it, I'll have to do this.' Laxus gritted his teeth. 'No matter what it would lead to after it all.'

XXX

Meanwhile, Lucy was walking around Magnolia with Happy, not the least serious in meeting any one of the Raijinshuu. As luck would have it, Bixlow found her, sent his dolls after her and, to make the long story short, stole her keys and left her vulnerable. Fortunately, Loki summoned himself and saved Lucy.

"Why, if isn't it good old Loki!" Bixlow seemingly chirped, as if the said person was his good buddy. "So you were a stellar spirit after all, huh? And what? Now you're going to bare your fangs at me even though I kept it quiet for you?" He ignored Lucy and Happy's comments and continued, "So, you joining the battle of Fairy Tail now, hmm?"

"I can't say that I really care much about what's going on around here, to be honest." Loki spoke, a tint of anger in his voice as he pulled his jacket closer together. "But I'm afraid that no matter the circumstances, hurting my owner Lucy is one thing I cannot forgive."

"Can't forgive? Don't forget- you've never once beaten me in a fight! Hell, I've always playing the nice guy, going easy on you!" Bixlow laughed before pointing at Loki. "Let's have some fun with this guy like the old times, babies!"

Lucy and Loki were on the winning end of the battle, but Bixlow's revealing of his figure eyes turned the battle around immediately. Happy then explained how figure eyes worked- Bixlow can control the soul of anyone who stares at his eyes.

"Not good...!" Lucy muttered nervously, keeping her eyes closed. Bixlow then released a barrage of attacks on both her and Loki, not giving them even a slight chance to fight back.

"It's sink-or-swim now, Lucy. When I give the signal, open your eyes and go for him." Loki explained, gaining Lucy's acknowledgement to the plan before exclaiming, "Zenith of Regulus, Shishi Kyokou!"

A bright flash of light blocked Bixlow's vision for a split moment, and Lucy took that opportunity to wind her whip around the former's neck.

"There's no way you can defeat me!" Bixlow yelled, still unable to see clearly.

"I'm not the same I used to be. Since meeting Lucy, I have regained my original powers as a stellar spirit... No, meeting Lucy itself had made me strong." Loki spoke aloud, making a dash towards Bixlow. He continued, yelling, "I'm not like those ridiculous dolls you control! Love gives a stellar spirit power!" His punch made contact with Bixlow's face. "Regulus Impact!"

"All right!" Happy cheered openly.

"Thank you, Loki." Lucy gave a small smile, worn out from battle.

"Check this out, Lucy." Loki stated seriously before flashing a spotlight that said 'I love Lucy' on the wall. "The light of love."

"Like I said earlier on... There's no way you can defeat me!" Someone spoke a distance away behind Lucy. The latter quickly turned around before realising that it was Bixlow, staring at her eye-to-eye so that his figure eyes would be effective.

"Lucy!" Loki shouted her name, but she was already about to be caught in his trap.

'Shit!' Loki thought inwardly, cursing his inattentiveness to the situation. He never expected Bixlow to be conscious after taking his Regulus impact straight on.

Suddenly, Frau fell out from the sky (or the roof of the building, to be precise) and landed hard on Bixlow, crushing the latter entirely. A shocked Lucy, Loki and Happy stared blankly at the Bishop.

"Phew! That was a close one. Hey, you guys alright?" Frau breathed a sigh of relief, wiping off the sweat accumulating at his forehead using the back of his hand.

"Hey, Frau... H-h-how did you... No, why did you..." Lucy muttered, still pretty much in shock.

"Hmm?" Frau looked blankly at her before a loud explosion was heard from another part of town.

"Well, I gotta go, see ya!" And he dashed off before Loki could even ask him how he did something almost humanely impossible.

'That man called Frau... I had better look for any information on him in the stellar world first.' Loki thought suspiciously as Lucy's legs then gave way, fully relieved that the battle was finally over. That broke him out of his thoughts and he passed the keys back to her.

XXX

"You're kidding me! That bunny girl could actually fight?!" Gajeel yelled in disbelief and after hearing Natsu's serious line of 'I'm sure Lucy's pretty strong', protested, "No way! I mean, she's a freakin' bunny!"

"That's Lu-chan for you! And I've got to do my best as well!" Levi chirped before she was beckoned by a slightly awed Teito to continue finding a way to rewrite the enchantment. Both of them continued to scribble down different ways, but Teito could only figure out the part written by Frau. The rest was up to Levi.

Natsu and Gajeel's argument did not seem to be helping either one of them, and Teito was about to shut them up with his Zaiphon until Levi had a brainwave from their conversation.

"That's it! I just have to go through it deciphering the two separate grammars at different rates! If I go through the text mapping the characters with corresponding frequency into guile grammar, and then convert that to rogue..." Levi muttered, deeply engrossed in her work. The other three stared blankly at the words she wrote down, not understanding how it worked. When she was done, she stopped and sighed deeply.

"What's wrong?" Natsu blurted out almost immediately.

"The enchantment. There's still another rule that's not written in Fiore language." Levi pointed at the Zaiphon below the Fiore letters in the said thing.

"It shouldn't affect the enchantment," Teito spoke up, grabbing the attention from all three mages. "If it had done so, Freed would have come over to check it out."

"That's good. Anyways, you three just wait there! I'm going to overwrite the enchantment!" Levi concluded before running out of the guild, turning back once as she did so. "Are you ready? It's time for you guys to take part in the battle of Fairy Tail!"

"Hell yeah!"/"Time for me to go out and have a little fun."/"You guys are way too reckless..." Natsu, Gajeel and Teito all yelled or spoke at the same time. The enchantment dissipated and they dashed off in different directions.

'I really hope that I would not have to fight, though. If Ayanami finds out that I'm here... Everyone... Will be killed...' Teito thought to himself. As he ran across a bridge, he spotted Mirajane and Elfman a distance away. The latter looked very badly beaten up. Turning to them, Teito yelled, "Mirajane! Elfman! Are you both alright?"

"Teito?" Mirajane's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting the said person to be there. She helped Elfman move closer to the bridge, but as she did, Teito felt a hostile presence approaching him. He quickly jumped aside, just in time for Cana and Freed to come dropping down from nowhere.

"Take it back! Take back what you said about Juvia being a 'phantom girl' this instant!" Cana retorted, tears flowing out of her eyes. Suddenly, she started strangling herself- or rather, she was manipulated to do so, much to the others' shock. Teito noticed some writings on Cana's arm which faded just before the latter passed out.

"Damn you, Freed! How can you use Manipulative Zaiphon on others?!" Teito yelled angrily, releasing some of his own Attacking Zaiphon like he did back when he was in the military and shot it towards Freed. The latter's eyes widened a little before dodging the attack.

"A Zaiphon user? I haven't seen one in years, but your type is definitely Attacking Zaiphon." Freed suddenly appeared behind Teito and used his sword to inscribe some wordings on Teito's back. "But it's no match for mine. Yami no Ecriture: Pain."

A shiver suddenly went down Teito's spine. His whole body felt weird, but that was not it. It was as if his five senses were starting to tell him that his body was hurting from injuries- which he had none at the moment. Before he could figure out how it worked, the attack hit him.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Teito screamed, feeling as if every part of his body was being torn apart by some mysterious force.

"Dammit all, Freed!" Elfman growled before charging towards the said person. "He's not even a part of Fairy Tail!"

"Those who break the rules will be subjected to a fate worse than death. And the same goes for you, Elfman." Freed slashed his sword across Elfman's chest before his barrage of attacks hit the latter. Mirajane could only watch the both of them get beaten up while desperately trying to plead Freed to stop. Without warning, Freed's attack was stopped by Teito- Mikhail, actually- grabbing the former's sword.

"You will pay for hurting my Master." Mikhail spoke indifferently, glaring at Freed who was shocked at both Teito's change in eye colour and demeanour.

Frau dashed over just in time to see a red orb and bone-like tentacles slowly appearing on Teito's right hand. He glanced up and spotted Teito's red irises before face-palming inwardly. 'And I even told him not to come out unless he really had to...!' Well, there was only one thing he could do.

"Sleep!" Frau yelled loud enough for the collar around Teito's neck to hear, but not for Mirajane to hear it. The collar acted on command, and Mikhail was immediately subdued. Frau then teleported away before Freed noticed his presence.

XXX

"Sleep!"

Freed's eyes widened at the voice. It was... strangely familiar. A voice he had not heard in years. One he could not forget. But... It's impossible. There's no way he could be here in Magnolia. There's no way he could have survived 'that'... And even if he did, for someone whom ran away from it... What could Freed say?

Freed shook his head. No, he couldn't afford to think about that at the moment. Right now, Laxus' is his only companion, aside from the Raijinshuu. The past does not matter. He will do as Laxus says. This time... It wouldn't end up like how it did in the past.

Freed reverted back to his indifferent look and raised his sword upwards. "Even if you are a fellow Zaiphon user or a member of Fairy Tail, I cannot forgive anyone who breaks the rules. Yami no Ecriture: Annihilation."

That was the last straw. Mirajane lost control of her emotions and unleashed her Take Over magic: Satan Soul.

Desperate to keep his promise to Laxus, Freed put up a struggle, even using his magic on himself to boost his firepower. Unfortunately, he was easily overpowered by Mirajane and was defeated in a flash.

'I can't possibly defeat this... This is truly the power of a demon!' Expecting Mirajane to land the final blow, Freed shut his eyes and waited for it to come. But it never did; Freed opened his eyes to see Mirajane's fist barely inches away from his face before the latter turned back to normal.

"This battle... is so meaningless, isn't it?" Mirajane started, bringing her fist away from Freed's face and moving beside him. "We're companions, you know... Fellow members of the same guild..." Mirajane had a sad smile on her face. "Smiling together... Laughing together... Walking together..."

"S-Shut up! I have only one companion- Laxus!" Freed retorted uneasily. Why were her words making sense to him?

"That's not true, though. Is it? I'm sure you must have realised that it's not completely such a bad thing to cling on to one person, but you have any number of people all around you. People are always connected to each other." Mirajane continued. An array of memories flashed through Freed's mind at that point in time.

'C'mon, Freed! Come help us out with the preparations for Fantasia!'

'Hey, would you mind modelling for a picture for me? You have some pretty good looks there, after all.'

'Hey Freed, why don't we have a drink sometime, yeah?'

'Gimme a match, Freed! Just you and me!'

'You have quite some skill. I'd say you could handle S-rank missions. In fact, you should ask Master about it sometime.'

'Make sure Laxus doesn't do anything stupid for me, would you? Freed?'

'Freed,' Freed gritted his teeth at the sight of this memory- Frau had his back turned on him and waving slightly. 'Always do your best, okay?'

"You see? Just reach out your hand, and someone's right here. After all..." Tears formed at Mirajane's eyes. "It's when people realise how lonely it is on their own, that they start becoming kind. You know that, don't you?"

Freed tried hard, but he could not hold back his tears. They started flowing out uncontrollably. Freed brought his hand to his face in an attempt to cover it. Mirajane have a small smile, continuing, "Let's all enjoy the festival next year, okay?"

"Yeah..." Freed could only sob out while Cana and Elfman (carrying Juvia in his arms and Teito over his shoulder) watched the entire scene from the side.

XXX

Freed VS Mirajane: both lost the will to fight.

And with that, the only opponent left in the battle of Fairy Tail...

Is Laxus himself!

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**[A/N]:** … This is the longest chapter I must have written in my whole 16 years and counting years of my life. Anyways, here's the next chapter!

Many thanks and apologies to all those who followed, favourite-d, reviewed or simply just read this story. This chapter came up late, long... And has a crappy ending. LOL

Anyways, to make up for this, I'll be posting the next chapter either tomorrow or on friday.

See you all soon~!

ANYL


	6. IV: Laxus Dreyar

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

* * *

Review Responses:

Angelic yet Demonic: Thanks for the feedback! I was more worried that I was going too slow, actually… And I have to apologise, but I had to push the Gray/Natsu VS Teito battle to the next chapter. *bows*

Silvermoon of Forestclan: I think I forgot to reply you in the previous chapter (I'm rather sleep-deprived and confused right now). But thanks for your review! And when it comes them being suspicious… Well, there's something I'm planning for the next chappie. It'll take a while, but do look forward to it!

HiKaoru .Ciel: Here's a lot more suspense! Don't worry, I'll get to Frau and Freed's meeting- in future chapters. :)

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"There's only ten minutes left. Is Laxus serious about this?" Levi stared blankly into the air for a while before clenching her fists tighter. "Still, it will work out somehow. We still have Erza and Natsu, Gajeel... Oh, Mystogun, Teito and Frau, too!"

Just then, Polyushka entered the guild, asking for Makarov. Ignoring the girl's rumblings later on, she headed to the bed where Makarov lay. She knew how bad his condition was with a single look.

"Bring Laxus here." Polyushka commanded.

"Huh?"

"Bring that idiot boy who is playing the fool in ignorance of his grandfather's condition here at once." Tears swelled up in Polyushka's eyes. "He doesn't have long left."

XXX

Back at the Cathedral, Laxus sat by the steps of the front of the Cathedral in deep thought, not noticing Frau enter near him.

"_Where did you get off saying that, huh?! Everybody's been looking at me through rose-coloured glasses since I was a kid, just because I'm your grandson!" _Laxus' voice from an old argument rang in his head._ "It doesn't matter what I do, I never get credit for anything! It pisses me off enough already without you bringing that shame upon me as well!"_

"_Laxus, you're thinking about this far too much. Proper credit is a remarkably difficult thing for anyone in this world to achieve..." Makarov replied slowly, trying to explain things to his grandson._

"_Don't you have any feelings? Why did you excommunicate my dad?!" After hearing Makarov's response, he yelled back, "Okay, so he did a lot of stupid things! But he's still your son. He's family, right?!"_

"_Family or not, I cannot allow a man who endangers the lives of his comrades to be a member of this guild." Makarov answered sternly. Laxus knew that it was impossible to change Makarov's mindset about this, and retorted back._

"_Then what? Are you going to get rid of me? If you do, I'll just go join the guild my dad founded and take you out!" Laxus shouted before turning away. "Anyways, it's no use pretending that you care at this point."_

"_He left the guild in procession of extremely sensitive information regarding Fairy Tail! We must find him, or the guild will be in danger!" Makarov roared impatiently. But Laxus was not taking any of that._

"_Says the guy who went and chased him out." Laxus muttered before turning back to Makarov, glaring at him. "I'm going to surpass you one day. Not for my father, but so that I can be myself. To be a man in my own right."_

"So he doesn't feel like giving in, huh. I guess that's the stubborn old bastard I know." Laxus muttered to himself as he stood up and took a few steps forward, back now facing the entrance to the Cathedral.

A masked man stepped into the Cathedral. He was equipped with multiple staffs attached to a sling and wore overly large pants. Laxus introduced him as 'Mystogun' before the two discussed about who the strongest of Fairy Tail was. Laxus decided to intimidate Mystogun.

"Let's settle this once and for all, with the strongest at stake, Mystogun!" Laxus announced before smirking. "Or should I say, another..."

Said person immediately swung the staff he was holding and sent a blast of magic towards Laxus, the latter stopping the attack with one hand. The energy of the magic spread in all directions, destroying the glass windows of the Cathedral.

And of course, the extent of this destruction did not go unnoticed by the other Fairy Tail members outside.

"The church!/Kardia Cathedral?!" Natsu and Erza yelled simultaneously, getting ahold of Laxus' location.

"Where did you learn of that?" Mystogun growled deeply.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll tell you if you win," Laxus sneered.

"You'll regret this, Laxus." A dark and threatening aura oozed out of Mystogun as he brought the staff in his hand forwards. "You are about to witness a form of magic you have never seen before. But before that," Mystogun glanced at the front of the Cathedral. "You, come out."

"Aww, it looks like I was found out." Frau spoke aloud as he stepped out with both hands raised in a surrendering position.

"Why are you here?" Mystogun asked, ignoring Laxus at the moment.

"Just continue the battle, yeah? I promise I won't do anything funny." Frau continued, not answering Mystogun's question. The former sat down on the steps Laxus sat on just moments ago.

"... I guess I'll have to interrogate you later." Mystogun stabbed one of his staffs into the ground, reached out to the others and did the same. All five staffs were arranged in a horizontal line before Mystogun announced, "Matenrou."

Without warning, the ground below Laxus and Frau distorted before a large beam of magical energy shot upwards, destroying the Cathedral in one hit. Frau watched as Laxus evaded the blast before multiple belts tied him up. A huge crack opened in the sky and a gigantic monster loomed above them.

_It's just an illusion, huh._ Frau thought as he continue observing Laxus and Mystogun were battling. Both of them were strong- neither side was losing.

"Laxus!" Frau diverted his attention to Erza and Natsu, who stood at the entrance of the Cathedral. The two only realised that they were next to each other after they banged the door open.

"Frau! What are you doing here?!" Natsu yelled, said person starting to smirk from where he sat.

"You finally got out of there, Natsu!" Frau added, ignoring another question addressed to him.

"Is that Mystogun?" Erza pondered aloud, the said person turning away from her to hide his face. Laxus saw this action as an opening and attacked, destroying the headgear and scarf covering Mystogun's face. What came after was a flurry of mixed reactions- Mystogun looked just like Jellal. Erza was shocked to see the former look just like the latter, and was almost at the brink of tears. Natsu gave a look of disgust and mild anger. Laxus merely commented on Erza's reaction to Mystogun. Frau made a silent note to himself to check up on this person called Jellal while he thought of Freed's reaction if they ever met again. Would it be just like Erza?

"What's going on?! Mystogun is Jellal?!" Natsu's yell snapped Frau out of his thoughts. He then kept silent as he watched Mystogun leave, Laxus shock Erza out of her stupor and Natsu getting all fired up.

Natsu started the battle with multiple charges, while Laxus used his lightning to directly attack the former. It started off well, but Laxus grabbed Natsu's wrist and laid a barrage of lightning-coated punches and kicks.

"Who's running?" Natsu smirked, grabbing Laxus' wrist and sending a flame-coated punch right to the latter's face. "This is my chance to seize the top!"

Laxus stopped for an instant, as if contemplating the strength of Natsu's attacks before both sides were stuck in a full-out brawl. Natsu was sent skidding a distance away with Laxus' last punch before Erza swung her sword in between the two of them to stop the momentum of the battle.

"Just what are those things floating in the sky, Laxus?" Erza asked, keeping a straight face as compared to her look when she saw Mystogun.

"The Thunder Palace... I daresay you've heard of it?" Laxus replied before adding, "Besides, there's only two minutes to go. What can the both of you do?"

"Natsu! You have to destroy them all!" Erza yelled, back still facing Natsu.

"We can't destroy them! I mean, if we destroy them, then we get taken out with them!" Natsu yelled in reply. Erza's eyes widened at the fact that Laxus used Living link magic in the Lightning Palace.

_There's only one thing that can be done now..._ Erza thought as she re-quipped her Lightning Emperor armour.

"What are you going at this with Laxus like that for, huh?!" Natsu pouted, stomping angrily on the spot. "I'm going to take him out!"

"I can trust you on this, right?" Erza replied with a confident smile before heading out to destroy the Lightning Palace.

"It's useless! Just destroying one of those lacrima crystals could cost you your life! Not to mention there's three hundred of them floating in the sky! And you're out of time, too!" Laxus snarled aloud. "Even if you did manage, you'd die for sure!"

"But the town will be saved." was Erza's response. Laxus' eyes widened at her words. Did she really think that it would be possible to destroy the Lightning Palace? Even he knew it was impossible when he activated said move. Laxus immediately tried to stop Erza, but was stopped by Natsu.

"Karyuu no Houkou!" Natsu yelled, breathing a roar of fire in front of the unexpecting Laxus. When the fire subsided, Natsu growled, "I'm going to defeat you!"

"You see it too, don't you, Natsu! Just what a sorry state this guild is in right now!" Natsu and Laxus launched attacks one after another, with the latter keeping an eye on the enchantment screen. It stated, 'One minute and thirty seconds remaining until the activation of the Lightning Palace'. "Just what is that old man thinking? Does he not care about what's going to happen to the town?!"

"Don't get so worked up, Laxus. What good does it do you to destroy the town? You're getting worked up because you want to stop this thing yourself, right?" Laxus' shocked expression proved that to Natsu as the latter aimed a flame-coated punch at the former. "Not that easy to keep up an act, is it?! Laxus!"

_Natsu's right, Laxus. So when are you going to stop?_ Frau thought bitterly as Laxus kept glancing at the screen, creating openings for Natsu to attack him. Frau stared past the both of them to Erza outside before standing up. 'Guess I should go help them out, too.'

XXX

Outside, the Fairy Tail members were somehow communicating via Warren's telepathy. Gray, who was with the former, explained what he knew of the situation. The guys were happy to hear that the girls were safe as well, but a verbal fight brewed amongst those who fought each other.

"The infighting can wait!" Gray yelled, only for the others to yell back and possibly leaving Warren with very sore ears after this whole affair. "There's no time right now! Just take out those things in the sky!"

"Stop! Those things are protected by living link magic!" It did not seem like anyone cared, anyways. Erza then relayed her message that she would take the two hundred in the North, and was about to destroy the lacrima when a voice interrupted her.

"Wait, Erza." Said person turned to see Frau a distance away. He was walking nearer to her. "There's no way you can take on two hundred of those lacrima by yourself. I'll take half of the damage."

"I almost forgot you were here as well." Erza replied before smirking. "Are you sure that you sure you want to join in?"

"Of course," Frau answered, lacing Erza's swords with his Zaiphon as his smile dropped. "I'm partially the cause of this: after all, both Castor and I were the ones who helped Laxus create this spell."

"Wait, what?!" Erza turned to Frau, utterly shocked in what he had said. The yelling from the other Fairy Tail members gave her no time to think, though. Everyone destroyed the three hundred lacrima crystals that made up the Lightning Palace at the same time.

Of course, the aftereffects of their simultaneous attack was hilarious: Fairy Tail members everywhere were suddenly hit with electric shocks. Even Erza collapsed to the ground. If she had been hit at full force... Her wounds could be fatal.

"Honestly, you people can be so reckless..." Erza mumbled, listening in on the others patching up and apologising to each other. Erza breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Frau, wondering if he were okay. To her shock, he was still standing, only barely injured. Her eyes widened. "You..."

"Looks like Castor pulled a few strings. Somewhat literally, though." Frau shrugged before sitting down next to the girl, his trademark smile on his face. "Well, a good job done. Just leave the rest to Natsu and Gajeel."

XXX

The battle at the Cathedral escalated a level higher after the entrance of Gajeel and him saving Natsu from Laxus' Raging Bolt. The two dragon slayer's combined attacks were actually working against Laxus. The latter was thrown about, punched, and even caught in a mix of Karyuu/Tetsuryuu no Houkou. However, he was still standing, barely fazed by their attacks.

"That's impossible! No matter how strong this guy is, how can he take all that anti-dragon magic?! That's just not possible!" Gajeel spoke aloud, trembling at the sight of Laxus' figure emerging from the smoke.

"It's pretty simple, actually. The old man's a pain in the ass, so I've been keeping it from him all this time... But I guess I can let you guys see, just this once." Both Natsu and Gajeel noticed fangs and dragon scales appearing.

"You're a dragon slayer as well?! Laxus!" Natsu yelled, eyes wide in shock. Laxus never gave a reply, but hit them with his Rairyuu no Houkou.

"The hell, you punks are still alive?" Laxus growled angrily. It pissed him off that they were getting in his way. None of them understood him. "The two of you... Erza... Mystogun... The old man... The guild members... The citizens of Magnolia... Even Frau... All of you can go to hell!"

The ground cracked open, shooting out white flashes of light. A stong, insane amount of magical energy collected between Laxus' palms. To Gajeel's horror, he recognised it as Makarov's strongest spell: Fairy Law.

"Stop, Laxus! The master is... Your own grandfather... Is at death's door!" Levi pleaded, tears falling out of her eyes. "So please! Just stop this! Go and see him!"

Laxus' facade dropped for a split moment as he heard the news that was relayed to him. He then made a smug comment, saying, "Well, that suits me just great! Looks like my chances of becoming Master just went up again!" After announcing that he would build Fairy Tail up again from scratch, he activated Fairy Law. A bright flash of light flowed from Laxus, blocking the view of everyone in the Cathedral.

XXX

"Stop staring at the battle and answer my question, Frau." Erza stated seriously. Said person, on the other hand, was pretending not to hear her and kept his watch on the battle. The amount of energy flowing out from there was crazy; he had never felt anything like it before. He turned back to glance at Erza, who was still lying on the floor.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Frau replied with a smirk. Erza glared daggers at him and aimed a punch against his rib, but Frau dodged the attack.

The bright flash of light was getting even brighter, but Frau could spot a figure slowly and steadily making its way to the entrance of the Cathedral. A person with long, bright green hair. Freed.

"Erza, could you-" Frau was unable to finish his sentence. The bright light of Fairy Law engulfed the two of them and many others outside the Cathedral.

XXX

Laxus stood in the Cathedral, panting from using too much magic. He smiled to himself at the thought of surpassing Makarov, but was shocked to find that Natsu, Gajeel and Levi were perfectly fine. Gritting his teeth, he roared, "Why are they not dead?! What on earth is going on?! How can anyone survive an attack of that magnitude?!"

"It's your heart, Laxus. Your power and magical ability aren't the only things that you inherited from the Master. A heart that cares for its comrades as well." Freed turned to Laxus. "Fairy Law only affects those whom the user recognises as enemies. Do you understand what I'm saying, Laxus?" He gave a small smile. "This is just how you truly feel."

"No! Anyone who gets in my way are my enemies!" Laxus retorted angrily. "I am myself! I'm not his grandson! I'm Laxus!"

"Don't get all big-headed on us. So what if you're the old man's grandkid? Does that make you special? Different?" Natsu growled before roaring, "Don't get hung up over some stupid blood relation! The guild is the only family we need!

Laxus and Natsu dashed towards each other, both aiming punches at the other. Laxus' punch hit first, sending Natsu a distance away, but the latter stood up, announcing that he would never give the guild up. He was then hit by Laxus' attacks one after another, but no matter how badly he was hit, always got back up.

"You little brat...!" Laxus trembled in rage before he produced a rod made of lightning. "I'll kill you so dead that there'll be nothing left! Rairyuu no Houtengeki!"

"Stop, Laxus! Are you actually trying to kill him?!" Freed yelled as well. Levi could only cover her eyes and wait for Natsu to get hit by the attack.

Gajeel, on the other hand, mustered all his energy to stand up and turn his arm into a metal rod. He managed to direct Laxus' attack away from Natsu and allow the latter to attack weakened Laxus directly. A shadow approached him, and he looked up to see a smiling Frau.

"Yo, good job hanging in there." Frau said as he helped Gajeel lie on the ground, taking out a first aid kit that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Now, stay still as I tend to your injuries."

"Aren't you going to watch the battle?" Gajeel asked, smirking at Natsu beating up Laxus. Freed and Levi were too engrossed in the battle to notice Frau's sudden appearance.

"Nah, Laxus will definitely lose." Frau replied, fumbling with the bandages. "And by the way, don't mention me being here to the others, okay?"

Gajeel's smirk only grew wider as another of Natsu's punches landed square on Laxus' face. "Why? You hiding from someone?"

"Could be," Frau muttered before pulling the glove off his right hand. "Damn, this glove's getting in the way..."

Gajeel took a slight glance at the back of Frau's right hand, spotting a symbol- unknown to him, Zehel's symbol- but quickly turned back to the battle. Natsu had just done the finishing blow to Laxus with his Karyuu no Guren Bakuren Jin.

"No... I can't lose... Not to anybody..." Laxus mumbled aloud, but was losing consciousness quickly.

_"C'mon, just say it!" _Laxus' eyes widened a little. The flashback of him with Frau and Castor was playing in his head again.

"_Well, I… just want to be recognized as myself. Not as anyone's family. As Laxus."_

"_Heh, I see…" A smirk lit up on Frau's face._

"_I see. A similar situation to mine, I'd say." Castor's eyes were distant and clouded for a few seconds before turning back to Laxus. "And what are you going to do about it?"_

"_I… I'll become strong enough to beat my grandfather. I'll surpass him. Only then will everyone recognize me!" Laxus gritted his teeth as he stared up to the blue sky. His eyes gleamed of determination and mild traces of hate. Frau spotted the latter and sighed._

"_Have you ever thought of it another way?" Frau mused aloud._

"_Huh?"_

"_Just like… Instead of not being happy, how about you prove that you are worthy to be recognized as a member of your family?"_

Being worthy? He had never thought of it, but… somehow… He felt a heavy weight lifted off his chest. Laxus gave a small, barely visible smile before he lost consciousness, not hearing the frustrated yell Natsu let out to announce the end of the battle.

* * *

**[A/N]: **I know I promised this chapter on Thursday or Friday, but do let me explain.

Well, my elder sister and I were manathon-ing Hakuoki Season 2 on Friday night, and my dad confiscated (yes, he did) my handphone, so I could not transfer the completed chapter out earlier. Not to mention my pile of homework and yahoo mail dying on me just half an hour ago.

Anyways, that's it for the blabbering: Thank you to everyone who has supported this chapter! Now, I have a bit of news to share:

**This story's going on haitus.**

And if anyone asks: WHY?! … Well, mainly because I have really major exams (I may have explained them before) from October to November, and my Prelim results did not come out that well. My dad's going to confiscate my handphone and laptop throughout this entire period, with only half an hour to check whether any of my friends send ridiculous messages (e.g which topic is R-formula under OR what is an equation), type a little fanfic or play Kingdom Hearts: Chain of memories. And the last one's not the reason why my results turned out bad.

All in all, this haitus will end on the date of my last paper, **8****th**** November**, **but I'll end the Fighting festival arc before then.** Take care and please excuse this long author's note!

ANYL

P.s I edited chapter 4 and changed the flashback to Italics. I always forget to do that. =_=


	7. V: Fantasia and Goodbyes

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

* * *

**[A/N]:** I apologise if Natsu turns to Haru, Lucy turns to Elie, Gray turns to Musica, Jellal turns to Sieg Hart and Plue turns to Plue. But it's thanks to Rave Master that I got the inspiration to write this chapter a while back. Hiro Mashima's awesomeness at work!

By the way, there's a slight 07-Ghost spoiler here, so do read up to the latest chapter. That said, I think Hyuuga's Landkarte. What do you think?

* * *

HiKaoru .Ciel & TiFu: Thanks for the encouragement! :D

Angelic yet Demonic: I tried slowing down the story, but do tell me if I've gone too fast again!

* * *

For the first time since Phantom Lord destroyed the main guild building, everyone was seated, quiet and not uttering a single word. Each of them felt nervous and fearful- what if Makarov could not make it? Were they about to lose someone important to them?

Their questions were answered when Erza exited the infirmary.

"It looks like thanks to Polyushka-san, his life is no longer in immediate danger. The Master is going to be fine." Erza announced to the rest of the guild.

All the tension left the guild members at once, and the usual noisy ones yelled their pent-up frustration out. Most heaved sighs of relief and a small number were crying tears of joy. Everyone was glad that Makarov was alright.

"Aren't you glad to hear that, brat?" Frau smirked, ruffling Teito's hair.

"Who won't?" Teito retorted, jokingly throwing Frau a punch. "Besides that, you could have entered the fight between me and Freed. Why didn't you?"

"Everyone! Now that the Master's feeling all better, how about we start building everything for Fantasia, shall we?" Frau turned away immediately, not answering Teito's question.

"Hey! Listen to me!" Teito retorted again, but this time, Natsu interfered.

"Fguurau! Kafs gav a tattlr! (Frau! Let's have a battle!)" Natsu announced, voice muffled but still standing and pointing at said person.

"What kind of nonsense are you sprouting now, Natsu? You aren't even in the right shape to have one!" Gray added, squatting next to said person. Some of the guild members listening in to their conversation laughed aloud.

"Goog'd dook doun un be! (Don't look down on me!)" Natsu yelled back.

"I ain't doing that. How about I battle in your stead, eh?" Gray stood up, popping the rigid joints in his fists.

"How about you battle Teito instead?" Frau added with a huge grin on his face. "Tell you what: If any of you can defeat Teito, I'll gladly accept any challenges in the future. Deal?"

"Gu yet! (You bet!)" Natsu's eyes were sparkling.

"Wait a minute! I never agreed to this!"

"Alright, begin!"

"Ice make: Lance!" Gray pressed his hand and fist together before creating a spear made entirely out of ice. He directed it towards Teito, but the latter quickly dodged the attack.

"Wait a minute! I never said that I agreed to this!" Teito protested as he retreated backwards to dodge Gray's spear.

Everyone laughed heartily. It has been a while since little fights like this happened in their guild. Frau, too, kept his smirk on his face. Just then, Mirajane approached him.

"Frau, could you help me bring some wood near the old guild building behind? It's for the Fantasia parade, but I can't do it on my own." Mirajane smiled, explaining the situation. Frau's smirk widened.

"I don't mind," Frau replied before giving a wave to the two fighting. He silently passed a silver object to Mirajane and yelled to the two, "Tell me who wins later, alright?"

"Damn you, Frau!" Teito grumbled angrily. Gray's attacks were not letting up either, and he was soon against the wall.

"Hah, this is way too easy!" Gray shot his final blow forward."

Teito, on the other hand, wrapped a shield of Zaiphon around himself. The spear's attack never reached its intended target, and Teito took this opportunity to aim some- specifically some, since it is pretty destructive without the Bascule- of his Zaiphon against Gray's abdomen. His attack was also blocked by a flower-shaped ice shield, but it was good enough to destroy said shield.

"You know rune magic?" Gray spoke thoughtfully while pressing his fist and palm together again. Teito made a mental note to himself that Gray always did that before using his magic.

"Yes, but it's called 'Zaiphon' from where I came from. Technically, it is a type of rune magic. What about you?"

"It's Ice-make, a kind of magic that allows the user to create things out of ice." Gray explained, smirking. "Ice-make: Cannon!"

Teito swiftly dodged the cannonball that were headed his way, but the walls behind were, unfortunately, not spared.

'I'm at a disadvantage in this guild. He would be able to restrict my movements with his ice-make,' Teito thought, shooting a ball of Zaiphon at Gray before quickly jumping out of the hole created by the cannonball. Gray dodged and followed after him.

"Hey, those Fairy Tail brats are fighting again!" One passerby commented.

"I remember the last time it happened, it was Erza versus Natsu!" His friend added.

"I've never seen that brunette around here before, though. Is he a new member?" Another lady mused aloud.

"It's time to take up bets again! Who do you think will win? Gray or Teito?" Cana immediately announced. Most of the Fairy Tail members dashed up to her at once, furiously stating their bets.

"What on earth is going on?" Teito stared in awe.

"Don't mind them. It's actually considered the norm for us." Gray got into his ice-make stance. "Shall we continue?"

**XXX**

"Phew, this place is big~!" Frau looked around the interior of the old guild building. The place was dark, badly destroyed and dusty, as if no one had been in there for a while. It would seem like any ordinary deserted guild to most, but not to Frau.

After all, he had sensed something coming from the guild.

Was it strong magical power? Or was it something like himself: a ghost, something that was not supposed to exist in this world?

He had no idea what it was, but he felt something bad about it. So he diverted his attention from the getting of wood to investigating the building. Aside from the bad state of the guild, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Or so he thought. Almost immediately after he had that thought, he found a secret stairway to a basement below.

"Oh? Now what do we have here?" Frau mused quietly.

**XXX**

He could not believe it. He was losing.

But the battle was not really considered fair, though. His opponent, Gray, could create weapons using his ice-make, while his Zaiphon could only shield him or attack directly. It barely had any attacking power, either. It was no wonder that Freed person never used Zaiphon in an actual fight.

"Looks like it's my win! Ice-make: Ice bringer!" Gray created two curved swords and swung them forward, while Teito had to dodge them again. His Zaiphon shield, like Gray's shield, was not strong enough to withstand the opponent's attack.

'If only I had a weapon to utilise my Zaiphon...' Teito thought, clicking his tongue.

"Teito-kun!" Said person turned to the source of the calling- Mirajane. "Frau asked me to pass this to you if you were losing!"

Mirajane threw a handgrip connected to a mini bascule, and Teito caught it swiftly.

'These are...!' "That idiot..." Teito grumbled, putting on the handgrip and aiming the top portion of the mini bascule towards Gray. "Why didn't he pass me these sooner?!"

Teito's next attack effectively hit the unsuspecting Gray, who had no idea what the mini bascule did. Both fell to the ground, Teito by the loss of momentum and Gray due to Teito's attack.

"He actually injured Gray! That brat's not shabby at all!" Macao quickly nudged his friend Wakaba.

"Okay, it's a tie!" Mirajane announced before the two fighting could possibly destroy the nearby houses. All those who bet on either side had their money taken away by Cana, who immediately went to buy more booze. The others chased after her at once.

"Tch, I got careless. I didn't think that was even possible." Gray grumbled under his breath, trying to stand up.

"I didn't think it was, either." Teito explained, sitting up. "This thing was never used on people before. I do remember Hakuren using this on Kor, though."

"Kor?" Gray raised an eyebrow. Teito realised his sudden slip-up and immediately looked away, not bothered in answering Gray's question. The raven-haired teen shrugged and headed back into the guild. Teito was about to follow, but a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"You're... Teito, am I right?" The green-haired person Teito recognised as Freed asked with a slightly serious look on his face. "May I talk with you for a moment?"

**XXX**

Frau, on the other hand, was walking down a long flight of concrete stairs. It was starting to get darker, and when he guessed that he had finally reached the bottom, it was pitch dark.

'Maybe I should have brought a lamp or something... I didn't think that I'll need it.' Frau sighed before feeling the space in front of him. It did not take long for him to grab ahold of two metal door handles and entered the room beyond it.

The room's walls were more finely and intricately decorated as compared to the guild outside. An enlarged Fairy Tail symbol was marked on the ground with a circular border. The place was bright as well.

"... It looks like this room has a lot more to say about Fairy Tail than what I know, huh." Frau stepped into the room, feeling cold sweat drip down his face. The mere aura this place was giving out was heavy, let alone the thing that was possibly behind the sealed door in front of him.

"I guess you found this place, huh." Makarov's voice rang out from behind him. It did not sound angry or sad, but felt serious and firm. Frau decided to remain silent, even up to when Makarov walked up next to him. "Tell me. How were you able to sense this when most Mages can't?"

"Well, I guess I can, that's all." Frau replied straightforwardly without a single smirk. He definitely wasn't in the mood to pull one out now.

Makarov pondered over Frau's words before walking forward and unsealed the door with a series of arm movements. The seal on the door glowed red and opened, leaving Frau and Makarov in the glaring brightness of whatever was beyond it.

"I'll show this to you since I have no choice. This is Fairy Tail's greatest secret- Lumen Histoire. Only the guild master is supposed to know of it." Makarov stated firmly.

"Wow. To think that there was something like this under the guild..." Frau was practically drenched with cold sweat right now, and was at a loss of what to say. Makarov could see that, and decided to continue.

"Keep this a secret from the others. I can expect you to at least do that, right?" Makarov continued. Frau could only nod, still staring at the sight before him.

**XXX**

"Guash Fugrau?! (Where's Frau?)" Natsu bellowed, voice still muffled.

"I sent him to get some wood. Isn't he back yet?" Mirajane replied, looking around for him. "Has anyone seen Teito-kun?"

"I don't think he went back into the guild after you stopped his battle," Erza added, arms crossed.

"Maybe he ran off because our battle ended in a tie," Gray sneered, ignoring Natsu's muffled rantings from where he was currently seated with Gajeel.

"Master, what are you doing out of the infirmary? You should be in bed!" A random member of the guild spotted Makarov sneaking back into said room. The guild was suddenly full of chaos as everyone tried persuading (quite loudly) for Makarov to rest and heal up.

"Be quiet, you brats! I won't be able to sleep with that racket you're making!" Makarov boomed loudly and shut himself in the infirmary. There was a moment of silence before everyone burst out laughing.

"It seems like he's well enough already! What a man!" Elfman commented loudly before lowering his voice considerably, "By the way, are we really going to do the Fantasia parade with the guild in this state?"

"Well, the Master wants it to go ahead. Besides, you could say that it's in situations like this that we need it more than ever." Mirajane explained.

"With so many people injured, anyone and everyone who can still move has to take part." Happy mumbled, chewing on a fish. Plue, who was sitting next to Happy and sucking a lollipop, went 'Puuuun' in agreement.

"What?! You mean me too?!" Lucy exclaimed loudly.

"Of course. For example, look at them. They can't exactly take part, can they?" Gray directed Lucy's attention to the bandaged Natsu and Gajeel. The both of them were in extremely bad shape, but Natsu looked extremely bored.

"Gust du mait. Ugmh gehimpty goining! (Just you wait. I'm definitely joining!)" Natsu announced, although Lucy was unable to comprehend what he said.

"Yeah, and do you plan to do that?" Gajeel replied, looking not the least interested.

"Gua dan gubreah gire! (I can breathe fire!)" Natsu protested, but was trying not overreacting too much due to his injuries.

"And how's that got to do with anything?" Gajeel replied again.

"How does he do it...?" Lucy mumbled to herself. Teito, who had re-entered the guild when the conversation between the two dragon slayers started, nodded in agreement.

"Well, at least it looks like the trouble in our guild is over and done with for the moment." Erza looked at the smiles on the guild members' faces and smiled herself.

Their happiness was short-lived, though. Laxus' entrance immediately wiped off all traces of their happiness. Teito could feel the heavy atmosphere of the guild.

"Where's gramps?" Laxus asked, as if the incident that occurred yesterday had never happened at all.

"You've got some nerve, wanting to see Master after all this!" "Damn right!" Most of the guild members shouted angrily at his indifference.

"Leave it." Erza stared at Laxus for a while. His indifferent face remained. She continued, ignoring the complaints from most members. "He's in the medical office through here."

Teito, however, could tell that his indifference was simply a mask, hiding what Laxus' really felt. He had seen Frau wear it multiple times, and he was not surprised if Laxus had actually rubbed it off that perverted bishop. Erza seemed to have noticed it too, and was keeping silent about it.

"Mnph! Razasu! (Hey! Laxus!)" Natsu tried yelling before dashing in front of said person. He pointed at the older blond, yelling again until he was out of breath. "Dmphfokettliggordisguwoonegr ap! Mextgimeumredoingmowngordure ! Gugadbwetrgaihtgeadantometim e, Razasu!"

**– Mini chappie break: the author's too exhausted to rewrite what Natsu just blabbered out, so she'll let Gajeel do it on her behalf. –**

"'I'm not settling for this two-on-one crap! Next time you're going down for sure! You had better fight me again sometime, Laxus!' he said." Gajeel repeated before turning and barking at the author, "There, you happy now?!"

"'Next time'? But I thought you won, didn't you?" Lucy asked, not feeling very settled about the situation.

"I'm with him on this one. I'd rather not call that a victory." Teito took a glance at the iron dragon slayer. "That guy's a monster. If he had been around during the battle with Phantom... It gives me the shivers just thinking about it."

Meanwhile, Laxus walked past Natsu, leaving the latter protesting and calling out his name.

"You sure you don't want to reply that?" Laxus heard a voice from above him. He did not have to look up to know that it was Frau, currently in his ghost form that most people would make him go by the name of 'Zehel'. He was one of the only few people whom Frau revealed his secret to, after all.

"Of course I will, idiot." Laxus replied quietly. He never turned around, but gave a small wave to Natsu, whose eyes glimmered brighter than ever. He continued, "By the way, it's your turn to take care of him."

"I'm glad to see that, and I will. Without him spotting me, though." Frau smiled (although it couldn't be seen since the ghost's form is that of a skeleton- or a grim reaper, to be precise) before turning to Teito. The brat was glaring daggers at him, but without killing intent so as to not alert the others. Frau shrugged before returning to his body- he left it on the second floor since everyone was on the first- and announced, "Now then, everyone! Let's get preparations underway for Fantasia!"

"Wait a minute, Frau! I thought you went out to get some of the materials!" Jet yelled, remembering that Frau did leave the guild.

"Yeah, but I got lost and somehow wandered up here!" Frau laughed, lying through his teeth. Everyone laughed.

"Hey, are you sure it's okay to let Laxus through like that?" A random member commented loudly.

"It'll be fine, just like Erza said." Mirajane added, smiling broadly.

"Wait, Mira-chan! How were you wounded like that? Who did that to you?!" A bunch of Mirajane's fanboys chorused together, sobbing at how their favourite idol got injured. Elsewhere, Gray was commenting on Natsu's wounds.

"Geh, dis gis muding! (Heh, this is nothing!" Natsu announced, not bothered about the trail of blood flowing down his arm.

"Natsu, that's blood! You're bleeding!" Lucy screeched, almost making Teito beside her deaf. The brunette grumbled something about the noise level under his breath.

"Now this is how Fairy Tail's supposed to be," Frau smirked before disappearing to take the wood Mirajane asked him to.

**XXX**

"Laxus, do you understand what you have done?" Laxus continued looking away. "Look at me in the eyes, Laxus. Do you know what this guild is?"

Laxus did not respond, so Makarov took it as a sign to continue.

"It is a place of gathering for comrade-in-arms. It's an agency for missions. To some kids who don't have family, it's even their home. It does not belong to you. This guild was built upon the trust and honour of each individual member. And that is how we have formed stronger and firmer bonds than you'll find anywhere else. You have violated that honour and put your comrades' lives in danger. That is a crime I cannot forgive."

"I understand." Laxus looked down, not keeping eye contact with his grandfather. "I just... wanted to make this guild... stronger..." 'And for myself to be stronger, as well...'

"Honestly, you're a really clumsy man, you know. Let some of that tension of your shoulders, would you? If you do, you may find yourself seeing things that you may have missed up until now, hearing words you've never heard before. Life is to be enjoyed, you know." Both Makarov and Laxus smiled a little. "Watching you grow up... was my reason for living. I didn't need you to be strong, or smart... All I wanted was for you to be happy. That was enough for me."

Laxus could hear his grandfather's voice cracking up at these words. He was regretful of his own foolishness, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do. He braced himself for his grandfather's next words.

"Laxus. You are hereby excommunicated from this guild."

They hit him hard, but he knew he deserved it. This was Makarov's way of protecting him from both the discrimination he would receive in the guild as Master and his grandfather. His family.

"Right..." Laxus turned around, well knowing that his grandfather would be crying and not wanting to show his tears. "Thanks for everything, gramps. You take care of yourself."

**XXX**

Freed had expected it when Laxus told them his plan to take over Fairy Tail, but his worst fears came true when Laxus announced that he was the only one ex-communicated.

"What kind of joke is this?! He's just ex-communicating you?" Evergreen protested, worried for the leader of their team.

"Surely we all committed the same offence!" Bixlow stated grimly, not happy with Makarov's decision. His dolls repeated chants of 'Same offence!'

The chants and whatever was said after that, however, went unheard by Freed. He recalled the time he left- or rather, was forced to leave- Barsburg without telling Frau, due to a major uprising incident. The latter had been away in another district at that time, and Freed never knew if he was alright. He remembered Laxus went to find him once, but came back with no news. Now that the only other person he treated as a big brother (or rather, master and dog to the readers) was leaving, it was the same thing all over again.

"Laxus..." Freed looked at the man worriedly. He had a sad smile on his face. They knew he did not want to part with them. If only time would rewind itself and what they did never happened... That thought made Freed recall his earlier conversation with Teito.

_"You're... A Zaiphon user, aren't you?" was the first thing Teito asked when they were out of sight of the Fairy Tail members._

_"Not exactly. I use a combination of Manipulative Zaiphon and Rune magic. It enhances my Zaiphon." Freed replied, not looking at Teito in the eye._

_"I guessed just as much." Teito stared at the white clouds in the sky overhead. "Hey, why do you follow Laxus? I heard... that you lost the will to fight the battle."_

_"Well, Laxus... He kinds of reminds me of someone I used to know." Freed explained. "In the past, there was someone I regarded as a big brother... He was repulsive, violent, very blunt and always playing tricks on people. Despite our different backgrounds, we got along just fine."_

_"What happened to him?" Teito asked, slightly curious. This story had a ring to it, but he could not pinpoint where he had heard it before._

_Freed's eyes were downcast. "There was an incident a few years ago. A major uprising led to all the districts in upper mayhem. It occurred just after the Barsburg Empire had fully wiped out all signs of the Raggs Kingdom. He happened to be out of the church when things got out of hand, and I was sent out of the country without even knowing whether he was safe. I wanted to go back many times, but... I can't."_

_Teito stared at Freed. His story reminded himself of his current situation. He had to leave his friends and comrades behind, unable to find out if they were okay, all in the grasp of Ayanami and the shadow man- if he really were Landkarte._

_"I..." Teito started, getting Freed's attention. "I believe that I'll see them again. I'll pray for their safety, and no matter how long we are apart, we'll know that we are always connected. We'll definitely meet again. That's how I feel."_

_"I see..." Freed looked away again, but this time, his eyes looked a lot more hopeful. "We'll definitely meet again, huh?"_

Somehow, Teito's words gave him hope. Hope for him to live on. To stop regretting what he was forced to in the past. It was the future that mattered most now. And perhaps, this was also directed to Laxus. Freed smiled and stated calmly, "We'll see you again, right? Laxus."

**XXX**

"Wow! It's the Fantasia parade!" Teito watched in amazement by all the performances set up by the Fairy Tail members.

Firstly, the girls who participated in the Miss Fairy Tail contest were up on one of the platforms. Elfman stood on the second, roaring while using his Take-over magic. Gray and Juvia were up next, and their combination of Ice and water magic was beautiful, too. Erza had a show of her dancing with her swords that made her very deserving of her title Titania. Natsu's performance on the ground was good, but he looked very out of place with all the bandages, though.

Nearby, Laxus watched the festival go on, even up to the point where Makarov was making a fool of himself on stage. It reminded him of when he was a kid.

_"Gramps, aren't you going to take part this time? In the Fantasia parade?"_

_"I'll miss you when I'm performing, so I'll be in the audience." Makarov replied, making Laxus feel a little down._

_"I wonder if I'll be able to spot you..." The boy was in thought for a while before an idea hit him. "How about this, then! In the middle of the parade, I'll do this!" He raised his right thumb and index finger to form an 'L'._

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Makarov asked, looking slightly awkward at the pose._

_"It's a signal! It means that even if I can't see where you are, I'll always be watching you anyways!" Laxus broke into a huge grin. "So make sure you're watching, okay? Gramps!"_

Then, it happened. The signal that he created when he was a kid. It was done by every member of the guild. When he stared at Makarov, Laxus recalled it, and he started tearing up.

"Even if I can't see you... No matter how far apart you may be... I will always be watching over you, huh?" Frau spoke aloud. He could easily tell what the message meant to Laxus.

"That's... really nice, isn't it." Teito mumbled, watching the Laxus leave from where they were. "A family that cares... I'm sure Laxus understands that better now."

"Let's conclude this as a happy ending, shall we?" Frau smirked, diverting his attention back to the parade. Unknown to Frau, his reunion with Freed would be coming sooner than he thought...


	8. VI: Short Interlude

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara. *bows*

* * *

"Everyone! Let's par~ty!" Miki Chickentiger announced through the microphone as her team started performing on stage. The crowd of guild members below were either cheering for her, or celebrating amongst themselves.

After all, the fighting festival ended without any loss of lives, Makarov looking a lot better and the Fantasia parade a huge success. Everyone was happy and satisfied. Well, almost everyone.

"How about answering my question now, Frau?" Said person spurted the beer in his mouth at a very unsuspecting ice-make mage sitting near him.

"Hey! What's that for?!" Gray protested, but shut up after Erza glared at him, an obvious sign for him to scoot off. She turned back to Frau.

"Well, this ain't exactly the best place to answer any questions..." Frau muttered with an awkward smile on his face before looking around, chirping, "By the way, has any of you seen the brat?"

"Don't try to avoid the question and just answer it!" Erza growled angrily, but Frau had already dashed off to find Teito. "Sheesh, that man's hiding too many things for his own good."

"Is there anything wrong, Erza?" Makarov walked up to her.

"Yes. That person called Frau has been avoiding my question as to how he knows Laxus. He even claimed that he and another person had created the Thunder Palace."

"Hmm... That's something we'll have to consider for the future. We have no gauge as to how powerful they are as of yet." Makarov stated seriously before putting on a smile. "You shouldn't be too uptight, you know. How about enjoying the party first?"

"I will, Master." Erza smiled back and headed off to find Natsu. That Dragon Slayer was most definitely destroying part of the guild again.

XXX

"You know, Teito, I didn't think you could possibly beat Gray." Lucy commented after a slurp of her drink. Said person immediately looked up.

"I wouldn't consider that battle a win. Our battle strength is about the same. Besides, Mirajane stopped the match halfway." Teito explained, earning a nod from Natsu.

"I'm curious as to how your magic works, actually. What's it called again? Runes magic?" Natsu stated with a small tint of seriousness in his voice.

"Zaiphon." Teito corrected him. "Basically, it's just your emotions taking the form of words. Judging from what I've seen in the last battle, its shape can vary for different languages as well."

"If you make them like flames, will they be edible?" Natsu pondered aloud, earning himself a smack to the head from Lucy.

"Don't you have anything better to ask, Natsu?" Lucy sighed heavily.

"I do have a question, actually." Teito cut in before Natsu could protest. "Since the Cathedral's destroyed and it's too cold to camp outside, where's Frau and I going to sleep tonight?"

"How about Lucy's place, then?" Natsu answered casually. Another fist made contact with his head.

"Why my place?!" Lucy screeched loudly, gaining a few interested glances from the people nearby.

"Why not?" Frau added with a smirk. Teito gave him a look that said 'are you kidding me?!'.

"I don't see why not either," Natsu pouted, crossing his arms. "This is a great opportunity to fight Frau!"

"It's settled then!" Frau cheered as he kept his smirk up, very much ignoring Teito and Lucy's annoyed protests.

XXX

"... I don't see why Gray and Erza are here." Lucy muttered under her breath, sweat dropping at the sight of said mages in her room.

"Isn't it obvious? There's no way we're letting you sleep over with two guys." Erza stated, arms crossed as she sat on the sofa. Lucy squeaked a little by the fact that she was heard.

"I agree," Gray was seated next to Erza. "Whenever we dropped by, it's always a fair mix of two guys and two girls."

"I'm a male, though."

"You're not counted. You're a cat." Gray turned to Happy, who was sulking after seemingly being forgotten for the longest time.

"I still don't think this is a good idea." Teito stood up from his cross-legged position on the floor.

"C'mon brat, if you're just shy about it, say so!" Frau patted Teito's back, but it was swiftly avoided.

"I'm not. And when are we heading back to Barsburg?" Teito demanded, glaring at Frau. The other mages decided to keep quiet so as to not interrupt the serious conversation.

"Brat, if you can't even beat Gray, I don't see how you'll be able to beat Ayanami." Frau flicked Teito's forehead, forcing his trademark smirk on his face.

"I... I'll beat him somehow!" Teito forced a serious tone, but even the Fairy Tail mages could tell that his voice was laced with fear and (to Erza, Gray and Natsu) hatred.

"I'm ending the conversation here, Teito Klein. Go to bed," Frau ruffled Teito's hair before exiting the room through the window.

Silence.

"... C'mon guys! How about a pillow fight?"

"That's not a really good idea now, Natsu. But thanks for the thought." Erza sighed, noticing that Natsu's eyes weren't sparkling with excitement like they usually would be. In fact, she was surprised that he even decided to keep his mouth shut during the conversation earlier.

"I'm going to bed," Teito stormed off, leaving the mages in the awkward silence.

"Likewise. Let's just go to sleep." Gray added after a while. Everyone nodded in a silent agreement.

XXX

The wooden window slowly creaked open in the silence of the night, but Erza- who was still very much awake- heard it loud and clear. Later, the rustling of a long coat and the creaking of the window was heard again.

'It must be Frau,' the Mage thought before she turned to take a peek. She was right: the blond bishop was stealthily making his way around the room. He stood over Teito for a while, as if checking whether he was asleep.

She breathed a sigh of relief before turning away from Frau. All of a sudden, she felt killing intent from Teito's direction and immediately sat up. She proceeded to scan the room at once, but everyone was in their sleeping positions, including Frau.

She stared a while longer before she lay back down in a huff. Somehow, something did not feel right, but it was no use thinking about it now. She might as well get a good night's sleep.

Unknown to Erza, Frau lay in his sleeping position, still very much awake.

XXX

"I can't believe that Frau's left without us! And after he stayed overnight at my place, too!" Lucy let out her complaints to nobody in particular.

"I'm not surprised," Teito added, monotone. "He usually vanishes and appears whenever he wants to. I can't even keep track of where he is."

"Does he even do his bishop duties?" Gray asked a little unwillingly. Frau and Teito's conversation last night was still pretty much remembered.

"He does, of course. But he usually does it at night." Teito continued, looking very annoyed. "Aside from reading porn, smoking and being the perverted bishop he is. And why won't he let me go back to Barsburg? I don't get it."

"Maybe he's trying to get you away from something evil," Erza replied, thinking of when she returned to the Tower of Heaven and met Jellal. This left Teito in deep thought, and he did not reply this time.

"You guys shouldn't worry too much," Natsu finally added to the conversation, smirking and punching a flamed fist to this other hand's palm. "I'm sure he's just at the guild. Then I'll be able to kick his ass today, once and for all!"

Gray was about to say something in protest, but before he could do so, Frau suddenly dropped in in front of them. He was holding something that looked like winged bones in his right hand, and there was seemingly a dark shadow surrounding him when he landed hard.

"Yo. Morning, brats. Had a good sleep?" Frau greeted as if everything was the norm. Teito greeted him back, but the Fairy Tail members looked a lot more interested in the Kor than Frau's sudden appearance.

"What's that?" Happy decided to speak up for once, since he barely got to speak.

"This? Well, back in Barsburg, we call this a 'Kor'." Frau started, keeping silent as the Fairy Tail members repeated said word. He continued, "It is basically something that works for evil, and it tempts people to use their power so that they become stronger. That is also why Bishops and their apprentices have the power to exorcise them."

"For example, this basculus allows Zaiphon to take the form of an appropriate shape to exorcise the Kor." Teito demonstrated the exorcism process by attaching the mini basculus to his right arm and shooting a sphere of Zaiphon at the Kor, exorcising it.

"So that's what you meant by only using it on Kor." Gray stared at the process in slight interest. Lucy and Natsu had their jaws wide open.

'It looks like a simple process, but it seems that there is a lot more meaning to it. Frau doesn't look like he wants to tell us this process.' Erza thought as she noticed Frau's split-second serious expression change to his poker face.

"By the way, I've got orders from Master earlier this morning that we were to help our in repair works from the Fighting Festival. Let's get to work, shall we?" Frau added a smirk at the end of his statement.

After Lucy groaned of her needing to get a job to pay her rent, everyone headed off to the guild with mixed feelings, unsuspecting of the events that were about to happen in due time...

* * *

**[A/N]:**

Hi everyone! Thanks for the long wait. I'm… ten days late. But do listen to my explanations. *coughexcusescough*

1. I was clearing up my piling stacks of notes and textbooks. So far, I've brought 15 bags of papers, books and files to the recycling bin (and did some muscle exercise while I was at it).

2. I went to Anime Festival Asia last Saturday. The things I wanted to buy- the Tsuna-Giotto t-shirt and Ao no Exorcist bag- both cost $70 **each**. In the end, I got a small Nyanko-sensei bag at $22. Plus I got to see Kishio Daisuke in person. He was making… some interesting pun about the merlion and how it could not talk since it was spewing water and all. Not to forget his Satoshi (Ash) and Pikachu personifications.

3. Rurouni Kenshin: I speed-read the manga and watched the OVA: trust & betrayal. My sister's planning to drag me to the live action movie soon. :P

4. My dad signed me up for Japanese classes… *groans*

5. Did I forget to mention that I'm looking for a part time job?

6. My school's graduation day's up this Wednesday. I'll officially be leaving secondary school… But I'm still modelling my 3D project to give to the P and VPs. The software died on me for the past few days…

Anyways, please pardon this pathetically short interlude (like the chapter title). Many thanks for the incoming reviews, favourites, subcribers and silent readers. Fret not, I've got HUGE plans for the Oracion Seis arc. It's gonna be a blast... Hopefully!

ANYL


	9. VII: Enter! Oracion Seis!

Disclaimer: None belong to me. A/N at the bottom.

* * *

"What exactly is this?" Lucy asked, staring at the screen in front of her.

"We've come up with an organisation chart on the dark guilds." Mirajane explained seriously. "They seem to be awfully active lately, so I think we need to work on strengthening inter-guild relations."

"What's the big circle for?" Elfman asked, now staring at the screen Rufus drew just moments ago.

"Ah, Juvia knows that. That's the most powerful force amongst all dark guilds, the Balam Alliance." Juvia looked at the clueless faces of most of the members and continued, "The Balam Alliance is a massive force made up of three individual dark guilds- Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart and Tartaros.". Each of these has a number of lesser guilds under it's control, thus the three keep the underworld in check."

Just then, Lucy noticed a very familiar guild on the screen. She yelped,"Ah, 'Eisenwald'!"

"So that guild was under the control of these Oracion Seis..." Gray mused aloud.

"Ghoul Spirit as well. It was the dark guild the Raijinshuu annihilated."

"All those guilds Juvia and Gajeel-kun destroyed when we were Phantom were under Oracion Seis as well~!" Juvia gave Gray a wide smile, which left the latter sweat-dropping.

"It looks like we don't have to worry, After all, there's only six members, isn't there?" A random member reasoned. The one next to him agreed, laughing at the fact that their guild was small.

"But that 'tiny guild of six' is supporting one-third of the underworld." Mirajane stated seriously, leaving the two flinching at her words.

"About those Oracion Seis..." A voice everyone recognised as Makarov's was heard, and everyone directed their attention to the guild master. He announced, "We're going to take them down!"

Everyone was silent for a split moment before all hell broke loose. Most had looks of shock. The only exception was Mirajane with her poker face on as she greeted Makarov. Erza was the second person to speak up.

"So... What is this all about, Master?"

"At the regular meeting a few days ago, the Oracion Seis came up on the agenda. It seems that they are up to something. It was also decided that this development cannot be ignored, so a guild must be sent to eliminate them." Makarov explained to the guild members. "Such a responsibility is too much for us to take on our own, as we would end up as the sole target of the Balam Alliance's wrath." he stopped to catch his breath. "Hence, we are going to form an alliance of our own!"

"An alliance?!" Everyone chorused loudly.

"The four guilds in this alliance would be: Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale and Cait Shelter. Each of these guilds is to select a number of members, and those members will join forces to defeat the enemy. I'll choose the members later."

Everyone started bickering amongst themselves when Makarov was done. Some talked about the alliance, while others discussed who was to be sent there.

XXX

"Wait, why the heck am I included in this grand strategy, anyway?!" Lucy cried out, panicking at her current situation.

"I think this is a pain to me as well, so don't you start complaining." Gray turned to the mage sitting next to him. Opposite them, Erza smirked.

"This is the Master's decision. Do we not have a duty to live up to his expectations?"

"What about Juvia and Gajeel? They'd be much better suited for a battle like this!"

"They're both busy with other jobs, though." Happy spoke up in place of Natsu, who was groaning due to his transport sickness."

"Yeah, and in the end, we're the same group as always..."

"Surely that's a good thing? This is our first strategy meeting with the delegates from the other guilds. It is important to have good relations within our own delegation." Erza's smirk dropped. She exquipped one of her swords and pierced it through the top of the carriage, saying,"Am I right, Frau? Teito?"

The other members looked at Erza in awe. There was a moment of silence before the both of them leaned downwards, scaring Lucy with their sudden appearance.

"I knew it wouldn't work, Frau." Teito grumbled, glaring at the smiling bishop next to him. He turned to Erza, "How did you figure out that we were here? I'm sure I hid my presence well enough for none of you to notice."

"I simply guessed that you did," Erza re-quiped her sword with the wave of her hand. "Care to explain why you're here?"

"Well, I heard where you guys were going, and it turned out to be near our personal destination. So we took a free ride!" Frau kept smiling, feigning ignorance to Erza's seriousness.

"Says the person who suggested following them in the first place," Teito muttered under his breath. It went unheard by most of the members.

"Are you sure you aren't just following us?" Gray asked, repeating Teito's words. Frau twitched slightly- an obvious sign that his intentions were found out.

"It is in your own interests that you don't do anything to disgrace the Master, understood?" Erza stated seriously, but was thinking otherwise. _'These two certainly hid themselves well. I couldn't even sense that they were there. Who exactly are they, and what are their intentions?'_

"There it is! That's the meeting point!" Happy announced to the group. Frau and Teito positioned themselves properly on the *research  
as the carriage came to a stop.

The building was- according to Gray- villa belonging to the Master of Blue Pegasus. It was a lot more grand and sparkly than how Teito imagined it to be...

"Ladies and gentlemen of Fairy Tail... It is a pleasure to finally meet you." A spotlight shone on three people, with only their silhouettes seen. "We are the delegation from Blue Pegasus: the Trimens."

"Hundred Night Hibiki."

"Holy Night Eve."

"Empty Night Ren."

"They're so cool..." Lucy turned to Natsu and Gray, who were causing quite a ruckus behind her. "... Unlike our guys..."

Almost immediately, Hibiki, Eve and Ren swarmed around Erza and Lucy. They ushered the two girls down a red carpet to a couple of sofas, serving them and complimenting their beauty.

All that left Gray grumbling about their one-sided hospitality.

"I look forward to your cooperation. Let's work together and-"

"You're so cute…!" Eve interrupted her, his face sparkling in admiration. "Your face is simply marvellous! To tell you the truth… I've always admired you!"

Erza could only stare at the Blue Pegasus Mage in shock and disbelief.

Back with Lucy, Ren shyly pushed a glass of cocktail towards Lucy. Blushing, he spoke, "It's… not like as though I made it for you or anything, alright?"

"A tsundere!" Lucy shrieked loudly.

"Now… You must be tired from your long journey. Let us spend this night of rest together…" Hibiki added last before the three chorused 'Forever~!', leaving Erza and Lucy sweat-dropping at their antics.

"My friends… I think that is quite enough, yes?" A sickly voice echoed throughout the building. Ren acknowledged the source of the voice as Ichiya. The latter continued, "It has been a while! I have longed to see you, my honey. Worry not… For Ichiya is here for you!"

"'My honey'?!" Happy and Lucy yelled together, jaws wide open. Erza was in a similar manner.

"So you were the lover of Ichiya-sama…We must apologise for our conduct-"

"I vigorously deny everything." Erza cut in bluntly.

"You three! Clear that all away! We're not here to mess about!" Ichiya quickly ordered the three to clear away the sofa Erza and Lucy sat on just earlier on.

"Yes, Aniki!"

"I have heard all about you people… Erza-san, Lucy-san and the other two." Ichiya continued before turning to Lucy's direction and sniffing the air. "Ah, such wonderful perfume!"

"I'm really creeped out…" Lucy trembled at Ichiya's words and actions.

"I'm sorry, I have trouble dealing with this guy as well... Although he is admittedly a great mage." Erza sighed as well.

"I don't really know why, but that perfume-guy sounds somewhat familiar… It makes me want to punch him in the face." Teito grumbled aloud, with Frau simply staring at Ichiya and listening to what Gray had to say.

"Insufferable dandies of Blue Pegasus. Could I trouble you to keep those hands of yours off our lovely ladies here?" Gray growled angrily at said group. When they insulted him yet again, he continued, "Are you Pegasus punks trying to pick a fight, sending over this bunch of womanising creeps?"

"Are you sure you want to try?"

"We are powerful Mages, you know." The Blue Pegasus members certainly did not take Gray's insult lightly. Natsu also chose that perfect moment to snap out of his transport sickness and was eager to fight.

"Enough already, all of you!" Erza yelled, but was suddenly approached from behind by Ichiya. Her insticts took over and she punched him all the way to the entrance of the building. It was also a surprise that someone just arrived and caught Ichiya by the head.

"Interesting manner of greeting us you have there. Would you be the delegates from Fairy Tail?"" Lyon asked. Using his Ice-make magic, he froze Ichiya's head single-handedly. His eyes widened when he saw Gray in the crowd. He then smirked and threw Ichiya all the way back to where the latter originally flew from. "Don't ask what I'm playing at. You guys did it to me first, right?"

"What do you think you're doing to our boss?!" Ren yelled angrily.

"Could all of you men just leave?" Hibiki spoke seriously. It was to their surprise when the carpet started moving on its own and attacking Lucy. The latter recognised the magic used immediately.

"Don't try pretending that you've forgotten me, now…" Sherry revealed herself from behind her carpet doll. "It's about time you forgot all about the past me! ("Which is it?!" Lucy yelled.) I've been reborn for the sake of love!"

It did not take long after that for tension to brew amongst the Mages present. Ichiya was chasing after Erza. Near the entrance, Gray and Lyon were engaged in a staring competition. Lucy and Sherry were arguing in a similar way. The trio from Blue Pegasus glared at Natsu's hyperactiveness for a fight.

"Enough!" Jura bellowed, making everyone turn to him. Everyone except Natsu recognised him as 'Rock Iron' Jura, the ace of Lamia Scale and one of the ten Great Holy Mages. "We are here to form an alliance and defeat the Oracion Seis. This is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves." Jura took a glance at Frau and Teito. "And for those not involved, I'd suggest you come down and introduce yourselves."

The other mages excluding the Fairy Tail ones looked at the direction Jura pinpointed, and was very much surprised to see Frau and Teito there.

"Your perfume isn't very pleasant, so to speak. Who are you?" Ichiya demanded, although no one took him seriously.

"The name's Frau. I'm a bishop from the Barsburg Church. Teito next to me is my apprentice." Frau took out his badge and showed it to the Mages as he spoke. "Don't mind us. We're just waiting for the delegation from Cait Shelter to arrive."

"Why Cait Shelter?" Hibiki asked this time.

"I have an appointment with the guild Master. He told me to ask for the guild's location from the delegation he is sending out…" Frau's smirk was plastered on his face. "And he told me that he was only going to send out a single Mage for this mission. She would be more than efficient."

"A single Mage?! They're only going to give us one Mage to help out in this stupidly dangerous mission?!"

"W-Wait a minute… Don't tell me it's going to be some stupidly powerful person…?!" Sherry and Lucy panicked simultaneously.

Of course, no one else noticed a little girl running into the mansion until she tripped and fell, falling face-first to the red carpet.

"Um… I'm sorry I'm so late." The girl stammered before introducing herself. "I'm here from Cait Shelter. My name is Wendy. Pleased to be working with you all!"

There were mixed reactions amongst the group, but what most of them felt was shock.

"All the guilds are now assembled." Jura stated indifferently after recovering.

"An offensive endeavour of this scale, and they send us a single child? What do Cait Shelter think they are playing at?" Sherry pouted, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Carla, an exceed like Happy.

"Alone? I think not."

"Carla! You followed me here?!"

"But of course. I would worry to no end if you were to go off alone."

Wendy turned back to the group, still looking very nervous. "Um… I can't actually fight at all, but I know lots of support magic that should be useful to you all… so please do not leave me out completely~!"

"My apologies… We were a little taken aback, but I'm sure nobody meant you any insult. We look forward to working with you, Wendy." Erza smiled softly. Wendy was excited to see Erza in person, but was quickly ushered to another sofa by the Blue Pegasus trio.

"This girl… This glorious perfume… She is something special."

"You noticed it too, Ichiya-dono? There is something different about her magic. Erza-dono seems to have realised it too." Jura replied, watching the exchange between the Blue Pegasus trio and Wendy. Carla was complaining at how 'uncouth' the men were.

Frau then took the opportunity to finally leave his spot and walk up to Wendy. "You're Wendy-chan, right?"

"Ah… You must be Frau-san." Wendy opened her bag and took out an envelope. "The Master wanted me to pass this to you."

"Thank you." Frau smiled and accepted the envelope. Teito took this opportunity to walk past Jura and Ichiya.

"I'd suggest you keep your eyes wide open," Teito spoke, glaring at Ichiya. "From my experience, enemies strike when you least expect them to." He then walked out of the mansion with Frau.

"Why did you tell them about it?" Frau asked once they were out of said mansion.

"It was just a word of caution. I don't want any one of them to get killed." Teito simply stared at the letter in Frau's hands. "When did you contact Cait Shelter's Master?"

"About a week back." Frau sighed, scratching his head in exasperation. "Let's head over there and get back as soon as possible. This place is giving me the chills."

XXX

"What was that all about, Jura-san?" Lyon approached said person, but he remained silent.

"Now then, since everyone has finally arrived, I shall proceed to the explanation of our strategy!" Ichiya waited until he got everyone's attention before continuing, "North of our current location lies the Warth woodlands. It is there that a mighty magic was sealed away in ancient times. Its name is 'Nirvana'.

We know that its destructive power was so great that the people back then saw fit to seal it away, but we don't know exactly what kind of magic it was. Since the Oracion Seis have gathered in the Warth woodlands, we should assume that Nirvana is their goal. Thus, in order to prevent them from obtaining it… we must defeat them now!" Ichiya concluded their explanation before giving Hibiki a nod.

"We have twelve Mages, whilst they have six. But we would do well not to underestimate them. Each of these six Mages is extremely strong." Hibiki used his magic, Archive, to show the pictures of the six members of the Oracion Seis and gave a short explanation on each member. "Each of these mages has enough power to annihilate a guild single-handedly, so we must take advantage of our numerical superiority."

"Well… You probably shouldn't bother counting me at all…"

"I'm no good at fighting either…" Wendy agreed with Lucy's statement.

"Worry not- our strategy is not limited to simple combat. We believe that they have established a temporary base of operations in the woodlands, and it is important that we locate that base. If possible, we want to get all six of them together at that base."

"What do we do once they are gathered there?"

Ichiya smirked and pointed a finger into the air.

"We will use our guild's mighty Pegasus airship, The Christina, to destroy their base and them along with it!"

"… Your're breaking out a bomber craft against humans…?" Lucy asked hesitantly. Jura's answer left a chill down her spine.

"That is the nature of the enemy we face. Do take heed that if combat does ensue, nobody is to make an attempt to face an enemy alone. You must always do battle in groups of at least two.

"Alright! I'm all pumped now! I'm gonna take all six of them on by myself!" Natsu punched a fist into his other free hand before dashing out of the guild, leaving the other Fairy Tail members with no choice but to chase after him. Lyon, Sherry, Hibiki, Eve, Ren and Wendy followed soon after, leaving Ichiya and Jura behind.

"Well, it seems that the time has come to put this strategy into action. Let us move out as well."

"Just before we do that, Jura-san. I have heard that you are a member of the _Ten great holy mages_, but would that mean that your strength rivals that of Master Makarov?"

"The Holy Mages are merely a position granted by the council. I am but the least of the Ten… I may bear the same title, but I could not hope to begin comparing with Master Makarov."

"Well, that's quite a relief. If you were as powerful as Makarov, I would have been quite troubled…"

Jura did not even have the time to think through what Ichiya had spoken before a horrible smell filled the room and rendered him unable to fight. The source of the smell came from one of the latter's perfume test-tubes. The latter then took out a dagger and stabbed Jura in the abdomen.

He could only watch as he saw Ichiya turn into two small beings, who were now talking amongst themselves. His mind was reeling. If this Ichiya was not the real one, then where was he? And their strategy… was it revealed to the enemy?!

True to his thoughts, Angel stepped out of her hiding place and walked towards him.

"Wondering about that filthy old man? I merely copied him, that's all. And as a result, I know your entire strategy."

"Wha…?!"

_I'd suggest you keep your eyes wide open. From my experience, enemies strike when you least expect them to._

Jura suddenly remembered from that boy called Teito stated moments earlier.

"Alas…" It was too late.

"There we go! Two down, ten to go." Angel sneered as Jura fell to the ground.

XXX

Outside, the ten mages and two exceeds were still oblivious to the happenings in the mansion, still running as fast as they all could to the woods- and their showdown with the Oracion Seis.

"Wait up, Natsu!"

"I don't wanna!" Natsu pouted at Gray's words.

"Wait up, you guys!"

"You're too slow, Wendy!"

"But…"

Everyone stopped when a huge shadow was casted over them. Everyone looked up to see what Hibiki introduced as 'the Anti-demon assault ship Christina', or the rumoured 'Port horse'…

… Which was stuck was multiple explosions and went down in flames.

"Christina has fallen!"

"What's going on?!"

"Wait, someone's coming…" Gray muttered aloud, still in the position where he crashed into Natsu earlier. Wendy took this opportunity to hide behind a rock.

Six people stepped out of the flame-coated debris. The ten recognised them as Racer, Cobra, Brain, Angel, Hoteye and Midnight respectively. They were the Oracion Seis.

"Your way of thinking is too predictable." Angel stated in a know-it-all way.

"We've already beaten Jura and Ichiya." "How's that?" Gemi and Mini chirped as well, leaving the mages from Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus shocked at this announcement.

"We prefer to finish our job as quick as possible, but you guys are in the way."

"Money makes a person stronger, right? Let me tell you something good. In this world, money is everythin-"

"Just shut up, Hoteye."

"I never expected them to make the first move…" Erza muttered before noticing that Natsu and Gray charged forward. "Natsu! Gray! Stop!"

Racer simply zipped behind and two and smacked both of them away with a quick swing of his arms before targeting the Blue Pegasus trio next. Lucy called out to her teammates, but was surprised to see a copy of herself. Gemini quickly launched a counterattack with Lucy's copied whip before the latter could react.

Lyon and Sherry also saw how bad the members in their alliance were getting trashed and ran in to help. Lyon was even in his ice-making pose, but a swift movement of the ground underneath them rendered their attacks useless.

Natsu then caught sight of the sleeping Midnight and aimed a breath of fire at the latter, his annoyance turning into shock when his attack simply bent away. Another punch from Racer sent him flying and Gray frozen in his own ice by Gemini before he could ice-make anything.

Erza's battle with Cobra was not that one-sided until the other Oracion Seis decided to join the battle. She dodged an attack from Cobra's snake and a speedy attack from Racer. Hoteye then distracted her by making the ground dissipate from her feet. Blocking Racer's next move was a bad one- she was left vulnerable to Cobra's snake poision.

"My snake's poison won't kill you straight away… You'll suffocate in pain." Cobra sneered as Erza feel to her knees.

Long story short, they were all easily defeated by the mere six of them except for Wendy, who was still hiding behind a rock.

"You trash… Should all vanish."

XXX

A distance away, Teito could feel the magic Brain was using. It felt dark, scary… and deadly.

'_Everyone, please be safe!'_

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**[A/N]:** Hi everyone. Thanks for all the support to get this story up and running again. Honestly, speaking, I don't find this chapter very smooth because it was written over many periods of time, so my writing style isn't the same throughout.

I would specifically like to thank **SmileRen** and **Guest**-san for their PM and review respectively. It made me realise exactly how many people look forward to an update and how much you all loved it. I have to apologise, **SmileRen**-san, for my inability to hold up a conversation... For **Guest**-san, I appreciate your intentions, but it was unfortunate that one of my higher-ups' mistake cost me two hours' worth of pay, so I wasn't in the mood at all. And to **Topaz Miuki**-san, I know I said 3-ish, but my work timing got delayed. I have to apologise for that…

That said, I shall summarize the reasons why this update was late: I got a job, fell sick before the New Years, got back my Major Exam results (and having a week to choose which courses I wanted to go for) and attended a wedding.

To tell you all the truth, I have no idea when I'll update again. My plan is to edit the last chapter of **When they meet** and write the first chapter of **The Black Contractor**'s sequel (the prologue's already up for those who don't know). Chinese New Year's also around the corner, so my boss isn't going to give me any day offs soon.

For those who read this whole A/N, thanks a bunch. I'll still do my best for you guys by making up for it with a one-shot. I can't decide between **K & Maid-sama! **and **Fairy Tail & Magi**. If you guys want neither, just tell me. It's fine.

Until next time…


	10. Flashback: Pool of memories

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima & 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara!

**As a slight note, everyone, this chapter is not an update for the current storyline. **Basically, it is a chapter from a **flashback sequence** I'm building up for the part after Oracion Seis. There will be a chapter at the end of every next update (why am I thinking that far ahead when I'm not even updating properly?).

I have more to say at the back. Enjoy...

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**~Pool of Memories~**

Freed stared from a distance, holding on to his mother's hand tightly. He saw Father Bastien with another boy a few years older than him. The boy looked very unhappy and had his head down all the time, even in front of the statue of Zehel.

Freed kept his silent observation of the new boy. When it was time for mass to begin, he saw that same boy trying to run out of the hall run as many times as Father Bastien pulled him back in. He never sang any of the hymns, either.

But what captured Freed's attention most was his striking blue eyes that matched his spiky blood hair and demeanour.

A sort of interest bloomed in Freed's mind, and he wanted to know more about him. His well-to-do parents, however, never gave him a chance to do so.

"Bad boys like that are horrible influences for you. Never approach them!" Freed's parents scolded him.

But Freed's curiosity was overwhelming, and he waited anxiously day after day for that opportunity to come...

XXX

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Frau here." Bastien spoke aloud as he lead Frau into the room. The children in the same room were chattering in excitement and surprise. " I hope all of you will get along and teach him the wonders that God can do."

"Yes~!" All the children chirped in a simultaneous yet uncoordinated way.

"As if, old man!"

A shout silenced the entire room of children and everyone turned to the source of the voice- it was from Frau.

"I ain't gonna believe in that person sitting up there in his throne, staring at the people below and not doing shit when they need him to-" Frau was interrupted when a Bascule flew by him, his long, one piece shirt attached to the end of the stated weapon. The bascule flew right into the wall a distance away with Frau still stuck on it.

"He's God, Frau. Take some time off our bible studies to think whether you should or should not believe in him." Bastien spoke again from where he was, bible in one hand. He turned back to the other children before continuing, "Now, shall we get on with the lesson?"

Freed, who was in the group of children, stared at the pouting Frau from where he was. He had never seen Bastien do that to anyone- especially a kid like him- before. Frau's nature and the way Bastien treated him made him more curious than he ever was before.

When class ended, Freed stayed near the exit of the door to the room, waiting eagerly for Frau to leave so that he could leave as well.

"What is it now, Old man?" Freed heard a sulk from Frau.

"I clearly remember telling you many times not to say things like that, Frau. Do I have to repeat myself?" Bastien answered, keeping a calm and collected tone.

"He doesn't exist! That's the tru- Woah!" Freed heard Frau fall to the ground, protesting even after he did so. It seems that Bastien pulled out the Basule.

"Do I have to repeat myself, Frau?" There was the clicking of the tongue followed by a lot of stomps against the carpeted floor.

"To hell with this place! I'm never gonna pray to God to the day I die!" Frau retorted before running out of the room, took a sharp turn to the left... And crashed head-first into Freed.

A simultaneous cry of pain filled the air.

"Frau? What happene- Oh, Freed. What are you doing here?" Bastien ran out of the room, only to see the two said boys on the ground, the former gritting his teeth while the latter was whimpering in pain.

"That brat crashed into me!" Frau yelled, hand pressing against his sore head as he tried to stand up.

"I didn't crash into you, you did! And I'm not a brat!" Freed yelled back, still on the ground. Sheesh, what exactly about this boy caught his attention in the first place?

"Now, now. Calm down you too." Both Frau and Freed turned to the source of the voice. It was from a gentle looking man with pale blond hair and silver eyes.

"Bishop Fea. It's great to see you again. Where have you been?" Bastien greeted the said Bishop cheerfully, not seemingly worried about the two boys arguing.

"I was at the Raggs Kingdom, so to speak." Fea smiled before looking at Freed and Frau. "Who are these two young children?"'

"The one with green hair's Freed. His family visits the Church regularly. And this other one here's Frau. I caught him on the streets of this district. Stealing, to be exact: It's a wonder how he was never caught in the first place."

Freed's eyes widened a little. He never knew Frau had that kind of life before he entered the church. Where were his parents? Where did he come from? And... How did he get here- the 7th District?"

"Frau, stealing is bad, you know?" Fea chuckled before ruffling Frau's hair with his right hand. "It's a little late to say this, but welcome to the Barsburg Church."

"..." Frau looked downwards for a while before he let out a soft mutter, "You're just like Guido."

'Hmmm... This boy knows Zehel? That means that he should have been on Zehel... No, Guido's ship when THAT happened... Or did he somehow avoid it? In any case, Zehel: I'm glad fate has lead him to the church.' Fea thought, still smiling as he waved the three goodbye.

"Now, Freed. Frau. Get along well, okay?" Bastien patted both of their heads with a smile on his face before walking away.

"I'm Freed Justine. I live in the 7th District." Freed raised his hand, attempting to shake Frau's.

"... Isn't that obvious? Why would you be here in the first place?" Frau added hastily, but upon seeing Freed's upset face he sighed and shook the latter's hand. "Just call me Frau. I used to live on F-31."

"Eden?! Isn't that place filled with really cool sky pirates?!" Frau could have sworn he saw Freed's eyes sparkling more than ever.

"Uh, yeah. But no one calls it by that name anymore." Frau looked away, scratching his head as he did so.

"Could we go there sometime? Please?" Freed's eyes continued, still sparkling.

"... Not until we're older." Frau ruffled Freed's hair in a similar way that Fea did just moments ago. 'Besides, I don't see much use of going there without Guido around anymore... He's dead. Probably.' Frau added silently.

"Thanks! Now, let's go get some food first! Those edible flowers taste really good!" Freed grabbed Frau's hand and pulled him to the dining room, the latter complaining close behind him.

**~And the memories remain...~**

* * *

[A/N]: This was written around the time chapter two of Poltergeist was written, so do excuse any mistakes I made here and there.

And Everyone... This is important. However, this is not about my super-late updating (for once).

I need suggestions for this: Ways to try to get a person with amnesia's memory back.

I asked my elder sister for help, but all she said way "violence ichiban!" (Translation: Violence is number one!). I really need all of your help for this. It's fanfic material for another fic, so do help me with this. It can come in a review, PM, anything.

Besides that plea of mine, I would like to thank everyone for your continued support and reviews. I'll reply all reviews in the next chapter update.

And good news, everyone- my off day is tomorrow. Hooray... Until then, I'll be off helping the expansion of the Cuticle Detective Inaba fanfiction collection.

ANYL


	11. VIII: Rescue operation- start!

Disclaimer: I own neither. If I were to make a choice, however, I would choose Bleach.

Teito: How is that even related?!

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**[A/N]: **I'm back after a month with 4000 word- long chapter. Simply put, Week one was a Bleach re-read/watch (and I got Unmasked with all its Ulquiorra goodness, hooray). Week two was Minecraft. Week three was watching MinecraftFinest-san's videos. Week four… Let's just say stuff happened at home.

Aside from the fact that I lost a half-written saved file of this chapter and had to rewrite everything up to 12 plus in the morning, let's get on with the story after the review responses (and Guest-san didn't have to remind me this time!).

**Edit (at 2am in the morning): **I left out that Hibiki & Lucy scene, so i went to stuff it in. That's it, though.

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Angelic yet Demonic: I didn't plan for it, but there's a Teito fighting scene. *hintwink*

SmileRen: Thanks for your support! There's a bit of Lucy here- I hope you'll enjoy it.

S & Shellojello: Sure! But not yet- the storyline's still building up! (I've got loads planned, though- stay tuned!) And I've heard of both, but at most I'm watching random episodes of Hakkenden to listen to some of my favourite seiyuus. My sister saw your review and thought it was an interesting suggestion. Unfortunately she doesn't fancy writing crossovers.

Sanddrake111: Thanks! But whenever I try to update more often, I don't usually have the motivation to do so. XD

Nickrem Aqua Pearl: Thanks! I'll do my very best always!

Patapatagirl: Thanks for the suggestion! No one else gave any suggestions, so I was quite worried about the state of my fic. Thanks again, and here's an update!

* * *

The magical power gathering in Brain's staff suddenly dissipated when Brain himself spotted Wendy behind a huge rock.

"Brain, what happened? Why did you stop the spell?!" his staff grumbled aloud, but said person simply ignored him.

"… Wendy." Brain muttered. Racer and Cobra turned to him with little interest.

"What's wrong, Brain?"

"An acquaintance?"

"It's definitely her. The sky sorceress…" Brain's words left the members of the Alliance dumbfounded, even to Wendy herself. "It looks like I've picked up someone valuable."

Before Wendy could escape, Brain used his magic and grabbed her from her hiding spot.

"Wendy!"/"Carla!"

"What the hell are you doing…!" Natsu tried getting up, but Hoteye simply liquefied the ground below him.

Just then, the most surprising thing happened. Hoteye's attack somehow pushed Happy's paw within Wendy's reach, and both were taken away.

"Wendy!"

"Happy!"

"I no longer have business with you scum. Leave my sight!" Brain reactivated his magic, leaving the members of the Alliance scrambling for cover. Fortunately, Jura came to their rescue in the nick of time.

"Iron Rock Wall!" he announced, extending the rock on both sides of the ground around himself to take the brunt of the attack. He left almost everyone awed at his prowess.

"Where are they?!" Natsu immediately looked around before realizing that they were already gone. "Dammit, they ran away!"

"Thank god you're safe, Jura-san."

"You're wrong." Jura shook his head slightly. The wound inflicted by Angel ripped open again, blood staining the bandages over it. "I was in critical condition. But Ichiya-dono's pain relieving perfume is suppressing it temporarily, for now."

"So Oracion Seis ran away in fear at the sight of our arrival."

"Ain't you the one all beat up?!"

Ichiya proceeded to ignore Gray and use his perfume to help heal everyone's injuries.

"They kidnapped… both Wendy and Happy…" Natsu gritted his teeth, his hands balled into fists before attempting to charge off in a random direction. Carla activated her magic 'Era' and pulled his scarf to stop him in his tracks.

"Even though I'm worried about Wendy and the Male Cat, we know we can't blindly charge into enemy territory when we have no chance of winning. And more importantly…" She then directed their attention to Erza. The latter held her right arm tightly and was sweating profusely.

"Please hold on, Erza!"

"Sorry, Lucy. May I borrow your belt?" without waiting for a response, Erza pulled it off and tied it around her right arm. When she was done, she tossed one of her swords in front of herself. "I'm still going to fight. Cut my arm off!"

That statement shocked everyone around her.

"Don't be ridiculous-"

"Understood. I'll do it." Lyon picked up the sword, ignoring Gray's yells for him to stop. "We cannot allow this woman to die now."

"But…"

"How naïve are you Fairies?!"

"What do you know about us!"

"Won't you stop him?!"

"He doesn't need to go that far!" Both Eve and Hibiki tried to persuade Jura to stop Lyon, only to fail by his calm reply, "It is what Erza-dono wishes."

Lyon swung the sword downwards while all the above bickering was happening, but Gray used his Ice-make Magic to stop the sword.

"Do you believe her arm is more important than her life?"

"Don't think about using such a nasty method. There could be other methods to save her."

"Wendy can save her." Carla cut in, wanting their earlier conversation to continue. "This isn't the time for comrades to be arguing. We should combine our forces to save Wendy. And the Male Cat."

"She can counteract magic?"

"Not just counteracting magic, but she also has her pain relieving kisso f healing which can counteract fevers." Carla spoke confidently.

"Healing, you say… Could it be a type of Lost Magic?"

"Could it be related to the 'Sky Sorceress' they called her?"

"She is the Dragon Slayer of the sky. Sky Dragon Wendy." Everyone stared at Carla in shock. "I'll fill you in on the details later. Right now, we need Wendy, and even if we don't know where we're going, we know that Wendy is important to them."

"… So, in other words…"

"We have one goal."

"To rescue Wendy…"

"In order to save Erza…"

"And Happy too."

"Alright! Let's go!" Everyone bumped fists and yelled together in agreement.

XXX

Teito and Frau had just made their way to Cait Shelter.

However, Teito could not pinpoint what he felt was odd about the guild.

Firstly, he felt little Zaiphon emitted from the guild members and objects around him. That is in contrast to the high amounts of magic the area simply radiated.

Secondly, the sight of the guild seemed to waver when he paid very close attention to a certain person or object.

Lastly, the guild master himself did not seem to give out any Zaiphon waves, which should occur in any regular human.

… That meant he was not human at all.

Was that why Frau decided to come here, against the odds of coincidently meeting Ayanami outside Barsburg?

"I welcome the both of you… Zehel and the Wielder of the Eye of Mikhail." the Guild Master spoke at once. Teito's eyes widened.

"How did you…"

"You come to learn lots of things when you've lived for over 400 years, my dear boy." the Guild Master's smile widened a little.

"400 years… How is that possible?"

"You should have realized it already, brat." Frau decided to speak up, much to both Teito's and the Guild Master's surprise. Teito sighed.

"… You aren't human."

"That's right. I am nothing but a spirit, a guardian to a strong magic sealed in these lands called the 'Nirvana'."

"Nirvana… I read about that before." Teito recalled one of the books he had flipped through when he was studying for his test with Hakuren. "It had the ability to make bad people turn good, am I right?"

"Yes, but the opposite is also possible. I have to apologise, I'm very sure Landkarte wanted to become like the Nirvana, only to fail and become evil instead."

"No, it was just that his sense of justice was too strong." Frau replied, monotone. Teito knew what he had meant when Ea spoke about his past.

"Besides that, Teito-kun, I would like to tell you more on the Nirvana as per Frau's request. He told me that you could learn a lot from this." Teito turned to Frau in mild surprise. The reason why they left Fiore and risked their chances of getting caught by Ayanami was for Teito to learn about the Nirvana? "Now then, shall we begin?"

XXX

"This was once the site of a great ancient city. It seems that when the time came around for the Holy Rituals to be performed, the Miko would seclude herself in this cave and gain the trust of the Gods." Brain released his hold on Wendy and Happy before throwing them against an old alter table.

"Don't be so rough with her! She's only a girl- Mmfph!" Brain grabbed Happy by the head and simply tossed the Exceed back next to Wendy, leaving him out cold.

Behind him, almost all the members of Oracion Seis were staring at her with little interest.

"Brain, who is this girl?"

"Does she have something to do with Nirvana?"

"I can't see it, myself."

"I see! We can sell her and make a profit…!"

"Shut it, Hoteye."

"This girl is a user of Sky Magic… That is to say, Healing Magic."

Almost everyone's reactions changed from their bored ones to surprised and interested ones (minus Midnight, who was still sound asleep).

"A little brat like this…" Cobra muttered before something clicked in his head. "You don't mean…?!"

"Percisely. We will revive **him**."

"I… I won't help you bad people!" Wendy squeaked nervously, cowering slightly under the gleam in Brain's eye.

"Oh, but you will… You will. He will be revived… Be sure of it." He then turned slightly to Racer, "Racer. Bring **him** here."

"That's a long way… It'll take me an hour."

"That will do. Cobra, Hoteye, Angel. You three continue searching for Nirvana."

"Surely if we revive **him**, then there is no longer any need for such measures?"

"We must account for all eventualities. Midnight and I will remain here."

"Midnight does not appear to feel like moving at all…" Cobra sighed. "Ah, whatever. Let's go search."

"Fell like having a little bet? Whoever finds Nirvana first gets…"

"A MILLION JEWELS! I'm in!"

"Just shut up already, Hoteye."

XXX

After much discussion, the members of the Alliance split up into three teams. Natsu, Gray and Carla were in one team. Jura, Lyon and Sherry were in another. Eve and Ren were in the third team. Ichiya decided to proceed alone.

"Please, everyone... Hurry..."

"And that's everyone out in the woodlands." Hibiki added casually, turning to Lucy slightly. "You sure you aren't going?"

"We can't just leave Erza here alone, can we? And when it comes to fighting, I'm clearly of the least use."

"You don't have to put yourself down like that. I've heard rumours about you. How you took down a three-metre tall gorilla, defeated the Phantom Master so thoroughly he could never recover, took on a thousand-strong army in Acalypha singlehandedly..."

"The exaggeration... it burns..." A question rose in Lucy's mind. "What about you? Aren't you going with the others?"

"I can hardly leave you two ladies alone here, can I? Besides, my magic has the ability to guide the others to our location. Even if they do succeed in rescuing Wendy and Happy, if they cannot find their way back here, it would have been for nothing."

XXX

"So if she's the Dragon Slayer of the sky… What does she eat?" Natsu asked sheepishly with a look of embarrassment on his face for even asking the question.

"Air." Was Carla's reply.

"… Is it tasty?"

"Who knows?"

"Isn't that just like breathing…?"

"Regardless, Wendy volunteered for this mission under the possibility that she could meet you."

"Me?"

"You're both Dragon Slayers, are you not?" Carla did not wait for Natsu's obvious reply. "It seems that the dragon who taught her Dragon Slayer magic disappeared seven years ago. She thought you might have some idea where to find her. I believe Sky Dragon Grandine was the dragon's name."

"Igneel, Gajeel's dragon… and now Wendy's too…" Natsu's pondering was cut short by Carla's sudden yell of surprise. He and Gray turned to the trees ahead of them… But it was not a pleasant sight.

"The trees are…!"

"Black…"

"That's just… creepy…"

Two new voices rang out, successfully grabbing their attention.

"That's the influence of Nirvana. Ain't that right, Zatou nii-san?"

"Gyahoh! That's just such a terrible magic, it's making the land itself die, Gatou nii-san!"

"Who's there?!" Gray and Natsu yelled simultaneously. A whole guild surrounded them in a blink of an eye.

"We're surrounded!"

XXX Time skip~! XXX

"I see. That's terrifying…" Teito mumbled under his breath after hearing the story the Guild Master told them. A tense silence formed between them before a random member of Cait Shelter charged in.

"Master! The members of Oracion Seis have been spotted in the Warth Woodlands!" he reported before leaving. The Guild Master turned to Frau and Teito.

"You should not be involved in this battle, so do be careful on your way back to Fiore."

"We will. Many thanks for your time, Master." Frau stood up and bowed politely. Teito did the same and both proceeded to leave when the Guild Master stopped him.

"Teito-kun, I have a favour to ask of you." The serious look in his eyes was daunting. "Take care of Frau."

"I will." Teito nodded and followed after Frau. Little did he know that he would be more deeply involved in this battle than he expected himself to be…

XXX

"Ugh, this thing's heavy. It's a huge burden on my speed…" Racer put down the huge coffin in a huff.

"There is no man faster than you." Brain turned back to the two sitting on the groud. "Wendy… This is the man whom you are to heal."

"I… I will never do it!"

"No… You will heal him. Or should I say, you must." Brain removed the chains and the coffin creaked opened. The unconscious person inside, held up by the chains in the coffin, was no other than…

Jellal.

Wendy gasped in shock.

"This man's name is Jellal. A man who once infiltrated the Council. In other words… A man who knows the location of Nirvana." A smirk grew on Brain's face- a huge difference compared to Wendy and Happy's looks of fear. "He was reduced to this state as a result of being heavily exposed to the Etherion, and you are the only one who can revive him."

"Jellal… Do you mean **that** Jellal?"

"You know him, Happy?"

"Oh, I know **him**, alright! He tried to kill Erza! He even manipulated the Council into firing the Etherion!"

Wendy stared at Jellal in hesitation before looking away. "I… suppose he did.."

"This man is a ghost possessed by a ghost… A pitiful idealise. However, you owe him a debt."

"You mustn't! You can't bring this guy back, no matter what!" Wendy was trembling, trying her best to hold her tears and feelings back. "Wendy!"

"Hurry up and revive him." Using his magic, Brain created a knife and stabbed the unconscious Jellal in the arm. Wendy gasped again.

"STOP!" Brain removed the knife and swung his staff with his other hand, smacking Wendy across the cave.

"Heal him. It should be simple enough for you."

"Jellal is a really bad guy! And if you bring him back, they'll get Nirvana as well!" Happy tried to persuade Wendy, but to no avail.

"Even so… He was the one who saved me…" Tears flowed out of Wendy's eyes. "I loved him…"

Wendy continued, "I've heard rumours about him doing back things, but I didn't believe it."

"What are you talking about?! We saw it with our own e-"

Somebody must have been controlling him! Jellal would never do those things!" Wendy decided to plead for more time, hoping that the others would be able to get here. "Please! Give me time to think this over!"

(**A/N:** For those who haven't read that far, it's actually Mystogun. And indeed, Jellal was manipulated by Ultear. Cue spoilers. LOL.)

"Wendy!"

Brain knew of her intentions, but decided that they would not even affect his plans. "Very well. Five minutes."

XXX

Back to Natsu and Gray, they had just beaten the hell out of every member of Naked Mummy- they learnt of the guild's name but could not be bothered to remember it- and were covered in bruises. They breathed slowly to catch their short breaths.

"I thought these guys were supposed to be the weaklings!" Natsu huffed. Next to him, Gray agreed.

"Yeah, they were tougher than I thought…"

"Of course they were tough! You were facing an entire guild! Honesty, what were you two thinking?!" Carla yelled from behind a tree, but Natsu ignored her. He walked up to Zatou and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"You! Laughing monkey! Tell me where your base is!"

"Like I'd tell you… Gyahohoh-"

_*SMACK!*_

Natsu immediately went on to Gatou. "You! Big monkey!"

"… What am I going to do with you people?" Carla muttered to herself while Gray watched Natsu in mild interest.

After finally getting directions from one of the members, Natsu, Gray and Carla made it to where Wendy and Happy were.

"This must be the place!" Natsu took in a deep breath and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Happy! Wendy!"

"Not so loud! There may be enemies about, you know!" Carla hissed nervously. True to her words, Racer zoomed right up the side of the valley and knocked both Fairy Tail mages down.

"This guy again…!" Natsu growled, still on his knees, but Gray was already up.

"Leave this guy to me! You head on down below, Natsu!"

"Right!"

"Not going to happen." Racer ran down the bark of the tree he stood upon but accidentally slipped on some ice Gray froze and fell to the ground. In the meantime, with Carla out cold and Era unusable, Gray used Ice-make to form a slide down the valley. Natsu immediately grabbed Carla and slid down without hesitation…

Only for his motion sickness to act up once he reached the bottom.

"You're sick?!" Carla couldn't help but splutter. Then she shook her head. No, that was not important now. Finding Wendy and the Male cat was top priority.

"Happy!"

"Wendy!"

"Natsu~!" Happy's yell led them in the right direction and both headed into the cave. The sight before them, however, was something they had not expected at all.

"… Jellal."

The silence was so thick that only Wendy's sobbing could be heard.

"I'm so… sorry… I owe this man… A huge debt…" Carla broke out of her stupor.

"Wendy! Did you use your healing magic?!" she shouted in concern. "What were you thinking?! If you use that power recklessly…"

Carla couldn't finish her sentence as Wendy passed out and fell onto the ground. Jellal simply watched her fall. Natsu, on the other hand, was burning in rage.

"Wh… What are you doing here…?!" he gritted his teeth, images of their battle in the Tower of Heaven flashing across his mind. His fists were coated with flames. "JELLAL!"

Jellal shifted his gaze to Natsu and lifted his right arm, sending a bright beam of magic at the Dragon Slayer. The latter was sent crashing into the walls of the cave.

"Natsu!"

"I see your power is as impressive as ever, Jellal." Brain smirked. His plan was to go even better than planned… Or so he thought. Jellal turned to him with an unreadable look on his face. This time, he swung his left arm in front of Brain, sending out a wave of magic that caused the ground below the latter to collapse.

Everyone awake remained silent and still, unprepared for the incoming of the Mage and his powers. After taking a glance at Midnight, who had remained asleep throughout the earlier commotion, Jellal walked out of the cave. Natsu also took the opportunity to get the mass of rocks off himself.

"Where is he?!" he growled deeply.

"He left." Natsu continued a round of angry protests, but Carla cut him off. "I do not know exactly who that man was, but surely recovering Wendy takes priority right now." When Natsu ignored her, she yelled, "You want to save Erza, do you not?!"

Natsu stared at her for a while, still trembling in anger before he took a deep breath. "All right, Fine! Let's go, Happy!"

Using Era, Carla and Happy flew Wendy and Natsu respectively out of the cave and out of the valley.

XXX

"I know the Master of Cait Shelter told us to be careful, but he didn't mention a large number of members from other Dark guilds lurking in the forest as well!" Teito grumbled loudly, successfully landing a kick on one unnamed member before sending a round-house kick at another's.

"I guess guild intelligence isn't what it used to be [1]," Frau joked lightly, sparing a shrug of shoulders in the middle of his fight. Teito sent him a look of disbelief.

"Guild intelligence? What's that supposed to be?"

"… Nah, just leave it be."

Teito sighed and punched a third random guild member in the gut. He spotted a slight glint of silver- it was a pair of tonfas [2]. Teito resisted the urge to smirk at his good fortune.

With a swift movement of his hands, Teito slid the tonfas out of their holsters. He felt someone behind him and turned around quickly, easily dodging the swing of the man's knife. He then sent the man a distance into the air with an upper-cut.

"Stop the brat!" the presumed leader of the guild yelled, resulting another three men (let's name the no.1 to no.3 to make it easy for ya readers) dashing towards Teito. He looked as if he was having a panic attack. Great. Just great.

"Die!" no. 1 reloaded his magic shotgun and pulled the trigger. Multiple energy missiles flew towards Teito. When the latter moved to the side to avoid the missiles, they simply made a round and were soon hot on his trail again.

"Tracking missiles. I should have guessed." Teito muttered before he heard the sound of rustling bushes behind him. He dropped himself to the floor and rolled out of whatever came his way. True enough, no. 2 jumped out of the bushes, aiming a punch to his head that could have caused a concussion.

"Sweet move, kid. That hit could've killed you."

"Stop praising him. Let me handle him while he's busy with the tracking missiles." no. 3 snapped his thumb and index finger, sending a burst of flames at Teito. Luckily for Teito, those flames missed him. Unluckily for him, they made contact with the tracking missiles and caused a huge explosion that sent the teen into a tree.

Soon, smoke covered the area they were in. Teito kept himself close to the ground, trying to listen for their movements when a light footstep was heard behind him. He swung his tonfas around quickly, almost hitting his culprit on the side of the head before he stopped abruptly.

"Frau! You okay?" he asked in a hush whisper, making sure his confused enemies had not heard him.

"Yeah, I'm doing great. And it looks like you've found yourself a good weapon."

"Tell me exactly how an ordinary pair of tonfas would be any good against a bunch of magic tool users." Teito hissed sarcastically.

"These aren't normal tonfas. An old friend of mine showed me an older type- apparently you can shoot missiles at your enemies when you press a button on the handle." Frau whispered back, ignoring Teito's sarcasm. "Besides that, I sense something disturbing in the forest. I can leave you to handle these guys, can't I?"

"Yeah." Frau smirked and was about to run off when Teito grabbed the collar of his shirt. He gritted his teeth as a sharp pain ran down his back from the impact of the explosion. "On one condition- that you don't go and do anything stupid."

A sad smile lit up on Frau's face, but Teito did not see it. The former patted the latter's head. "Sure. You too."

"Hey kid!" no. 1's voice rang throughout the forest, shifting Teito's attention from Frau to the Mage. "Don't think that you can escape my tracking missiles by hiding in the smoke! They run on magic, and I can hit you whenever I want to!"

"Says the guy who can't even hit him in plain sight!" no. 2 sneered.

"What did you say?!" no. 1 retorted angrily. no. 3 remained silent.

'_Now!'_ Sensing where his opponents were, Teito rushed in from behind no. 1 and knocked his left tonfas to the man's head. No. 1 silenced.

"That kid's good! But I can sense you too!" no. 2 suddenly appeared above Teito, his arms swinging downwards. Teito felt for the button. It was now or never- and his risk paid off when a ball of Zaiphon was released from the end of his tonfas. He made a mistake, though. The spheres of Zaiphon were shot from the end he used to knock no. 1 earlier, and they weren't faced in no. 2's direction, but the ground below him. The force of the explosion pushed Teito upwards and into no. 2's reach.

"It looks like I still have a long way to go." Teito sighed inwardly at his mistake as he raised his right tonfas, sending it against the man's abdomen. That's no. 2 down.

The explosion caused by Teito had cleared away the smoke, however. No. 3 was ready to attack.

"You're wide open! There's no way you can dodge my attacks when you're in the air!" no. 3 smirked. Teito did too.

"I'm not dodging anything. After all…" Teito aimed his tonfas at no. 3. "You're done."

A large number of Zaiphon missiles were released from Teito's tonfas, a flurry of attacks with a range too wide that no. 3 was not able to avoid. He was down in no time flat.

'That was easier than I thought...' Teito sighed, walking over to the leader of the now-defeated guild. The man simply paled even further before running away from Teito, shrieking like a girl as he did so. Teito was not bothered by the man who had lost his will to fight and simply picked up the tonfas holster, attaching it around his waist. Another good thing he got from this little outing was a good weapon, at least.

Now, he only had one question in mind.

Where did Frau go?

* * *

**[1]**- this is a quote from Fullmetal Alchemist, volume 6, chapter 24. "**Army **intelligence isn't what it used to be, sir." I just switched it to '**Guild** intelligence', but it makes no sense. LOL.

**[2]-** when I wrote this, my sister commented: "Are you thinking of Hinomiya (the Unlimited)?!" No, and I wasn't thinking of Hibari Kyoya (Reborn!) either. My reference was actually Elie from **Rave Master**. And this is a totally random idea that popped in my head. I sincerely apologise.

**[A/N]: **Here's another memory for the **Pool of Memories**- which is quite messed up right now because of what happened in the latest chapter. I could never have guessed that **Verloren's scythe **was actually at **XXX** and that **YYY **was the one who put it into **Frau**.

… I'm trying to avoid giving spoilers to those who have not caught up to the latest chapters of the manga, but I do have to give away some stuff here and there. And for those who have read up to the latest chapter, let's assume that Frau and Teito had escaped before **that** occurred, ne?

And for those who read **Good Night, Nii-ni**, a dear reviewer told me that I'm good at making brotherly fluff… Wait, what?!

* * *

**~Pool of Memories~**

"Frau nii-chan, wait for me!" A young boy with long, green hair let down to his back whined, huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath.

"You're just too slow, Freed!" Frau yelled , hands at his hips.

"But I can't run as fast as you can, and you know it!" Freed retorted, fully standing up and running towards Frau, who was almost half a head taller than him.

"And to get caught by those Bishops I played a prank on? No way!" Frau sneered a reply, grinning from ear to ear.

"Playing pranks are bad, nii-chan!" Freed yelled back, but stopped when Frau raised his hand and patted the former's head.

"Yeah, but they deserve it." Frau started ruffling Freed's hair before looking upwards and into the distance. "After all, idiots who pray to Gods who don't exist are idiots."

"... You said 'idiot' twice, Nii-chan." Freed added with a chuckle. Frau's face flushed red before he put down his hand and walked away, Freed next to him.

"... Damn brat." Frau muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"No. Nothing."


End file.
